Lawmakers are back in Richmond for the General Assembly session. And, they're already making news about tax issues.
Governor Glenn Youngkin wants to eliminate the car tax, a suggestion he outlined last month even though he did not include it in his budget proposal. Now, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell says that idea is dead on arrival.
"The personal property tax, at least in Fairfax County, that's the only place I've done research on, generates about $3,500 per student," the Majority Leader says. "And I haven't heard from the governor how he intends to replace that kind of money. Just to throw something like [that] out there is irresponsible. So that, that ain’t happening."
Republican House Leader Todd Gilbert says voters hate the car tax, and Democrats should be willing to work with the governor on this.
"There's a lot of knee-jerk reaction to anything with Governor Youngkin's name on it," he says. "And that they would immediately say that something that's so hated by all Virginians, repealing that is dead on arrival just shows maybe where their head is right now on the other side and that they have no intention of working with him whatsoever."
Because the ability for local governments to collect a car tax is in the Constitution, a constitutional amendment would probably be needed to eliminate it. For now, that idea seems unlikely at least in the short term.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
