The Virginia General Assembly’s special session boiled down to this: They came, they (briefly) mingled, they left. No big breakthroughs on the state budget. No compromise on a big sticking point: whether to double the state’s standard deduction.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and House Republicans want to double the standard deduction from the current $4,500 for individuals and $9,000 for joint filers to $9,000 and $18,000, respectively. That sounds good to tax-cutting GOP ears, and maybe even to Democrats looking to show the folks back home they are trying to help them fight inflation.
How much potential tax relief are we talking about here? About $260 for an individual filer [1] or $520 for joint filers.
Every little bit helps, and this proposal could be enormously popular come tax day. But it’s not quite as generous as it could be. WRIC’s Jackie DeFusco talked to the Tax Foundation Vice President Jared Walczak. She reported:
Walczak said, if lawmakers approve the proposal, it would make Virginia’s standard deduction more competitive with other states and more aligned with recent federal reform.
All the more reason, then, to approve a doubling of the standard deduction. It’s long overdue, and it would help taxpayers keep back a bit more of their own money in a state that’s quietly overtaxed them for decades.