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Virginia’s general revenue surplus reaches $1.2 billion • Virginia Mercury [1]
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Date: 2024-08
Virginia’s general revenue surplus reached $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2024, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced to lawmakers in Richmond on Wednesday.
Youngkin said the impact results from job growth, economic development wins, regulatory streamlining, crime reduction, and “amazing” progress in education backed up by a legislative “game plan” that he said works. Last month, Virginia was named the country’s best state to do business by CNBC.
“Going forward, we must continue to compete,” Youngkin said. “At the core, we have resisted the false narrative of ‘either-or,’ and we have embraced ‘both-and.’ Importantly, our success has not just enabled both tax relief and record investment in critical areas, our success is the result of, driven by, fueled by both tax relief and record investments.”
The revenues will support accelerated improvements on the Interstate 81 Corridor, reduce pollutant discharge in Virginia’s rivers, and fund the Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP).
Over the spring, lawmakers repealed a budget provision that would have required family members of disabled veterans seeking a college education to first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), among other new eligibility requirements. The legislature also allocated $90 million in additional funding from the state’s surplus in addition to the $40 million included in the two-year budget for the tuition beneficiary program.
The Joint Legislative Audit Review Commission and the VMSDEP task force are reviewing the tuition benefit program. JLARC is expected to present its findings next month. Youngkin did not provide a date for when the task force would provide its recommendations.
“We will always honor the sacrifices of our military heroes, our Gold Star families, first responders and their families,” Youngkin said, “and I am proud that we were able to fully fund this program.”
Youngkin said that with a $1.2 billion surplus, there are a “variety of good ideas” on how to provide tax relief. The governor has proposed reducing tax rates on all Virginians and suggested finding a solution to reduce or eliminate the car tax and tax burdens on companies.
“All of these should be opportunities for us to reduce tax burdens on Virginians, and I will go through the next few months to put together a formal proposal,” he said.
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