![]() 10, both chambers will have a chance to modify Youngkin’s budget, removing parts they don’t like and accepting or strengthening those they do. The proposal put forward by the governor Wednesday marks only the beginning of the state’s budget season. “Governor Youngkin believes that ensuring more tax cuts for wealthier individuals is most beneficial for low income individuals in our commonwealth.” “We are smart enough and bold enough to know that his speech was the highlight reel and that he omitted the dirty details of his plan,” the caucus wrote. Senate Democrats on Wednesday afternoon issued a statement calling the governor’s budget “absolutely disgraceful” and “a slap in the face of our most vulnerable individuals.” And he came back out as a Democrat, a lot of tax increases,” wisecracked incoming House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, in an exchange with Virginia Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings. “I heard the governor say this was halftime. (Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)ĭemocrats have already signaled concerns with the governor’s spending plan - and some surprise. 20 at the General Assembly Building in Richmond. Virginia Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings taking questions from legislators following the governor’s presentation on his proposed 2024-26 biennial state budget recommendations on Dec. The “overwhelming consensus” of state leaders, said Youngkin, was that in developing the budget, “we should build in caution.” This year, lawmakers will have less money at their disposal, with pandemic-era infusions of cash at an end and state economic officials projecting a mild recession beginning in the last quarter of fiscal year 2024. “Virginians deserve it, and I know we can do it.” “I would ask us to deliver a budget on time when you adjourn sine die in March,” Youngkin told the money committees on Wednesday, referring to the final adjournment of the legislative session. ![]() Amendments to the spending plan, ordinarily passed at the time the General Assembly adjourns in late February or early March, took until September this year to come to fruition as the parties bickered. With power divided between Democrats and Republicans in Richmond and historic state surpluses fueled by pandemic-era relief spending, the past few years have seen unusual levels of contention over the state budget. The last two-year budget, which was passed in 2022, was based on a plan from outgoing Democratic Gov. ![]() That outcome dampened Youngkin’s prospects for a presidential run and will force him to work across the aisle to achieve his key priorities.īecause Virginia operates on a two-year budget that is amended annually, the “Unleashing Opportunity” budget presented by Youngkin Wednesday represents the governor’s first crack at crafting a state spending plan from whole cloth. “Virginia must compete even harder.”īut the governor’s speech took a less political tone than earlier addresses to the state’s legislative budget architects, offering fewer criticisms of prior administrations and acknowledging that Virginia government remains divided after Democrats narrowly won control of both chambers of the legislature this November. “Across the country today, there are winning states and there are losing states,” he said. ![]() Speaking to the state’s joint money committees Wednesday morning, Youngkin reiterated his familiar themes that Virginia must take action to reverse ongoing population losses to other states and reduce residents’ tax burdens. “The car tax belongs in the trash can and not in your mailbox,” he said. Glenn Youngkin unveiled a budget proposal that calls for significant income tax cuts, increases in state sales and use tax - and a push to get rid of the car tax, which the Republican called “the single most hated tax” in Virginia. At the halfway point of his administration, Virginia Gov. ![]()
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