Governor Glenn Youngkin released his amendments to the legislative budget crafted by Democrats last week. A new independent analysis shows where the two meet and where they divide.
Youngkin called his amendments the “Common Ground” budget and in some places, he did find such common ground according to a new analysis by the left-leaning Commonwealth Institute.
TCI’s comparison sheet shows at least 37 places where the Governor agreed with the legislature on spending priorities. Those shared priorities include raises for state employees and teachers and millions more for the state’s long underfunded developmental disability waiver system.
View TCI's side-by-side comparison here.
But TCI’s Freddy Mejia said Youngkin’s removal of a digital sales tax is among his group’s largest complaints with the amendments. He said about 40 other states have some kind of digital tax and not having one puts physical businesses in the commonwealth -and the people who could benefit from new state revenues- at a disadvantage.
“We shouldn’t penalize brick and mortar businesses by letting digital products continue to be untaxed," Mejia said. "We want to make sure Virginia can make the investments the community is asking for.”
But on the right side of the aisle, Steve Haner from the Thomas Jefferson institute said Virginia Democrats should take the budget deal in exchange for overriding Youngkin’s veto of an effort that would allow localities to add a 1% sales tax to fund school construction.
Pittsylvania County got the power a few years back. Since it kicked in last summer, the county has collected over $1.7 million for school structural fixes.
“I would accept most of what he’s done on the budget and then I’d smile at Republicans and say, ‘now help us help the schools by passing that bill over his veto,'” Haner suggested.
A recent op-ed in Cardinal News by local rural conservative lawyer Robert Dean Pope also pushed for GOP elected officials to overturn Youngkin's veto.
Youngkin and Legislative Democrats will return to Richmond Wednesday to hammer out a final budget. A spending plan is required before July 1.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
