Dear ,

Virginia remains in budget limbo, with no agreement between the House and the Senate on how to spend the extra money that Virginia has available. I'm afraid that our state's budget has become captive to politics. 

Virginia has about $3.6 billion in extra revenue to allocate. Although there are many similarities between the House and the Senate budgets, there is about $1 billion difference between the two, with the House recommending permanent tax cuts that would affect not only this year but future years, and the Senate putting the extra money into schools and programs to help people. For details, see The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis budget chart.

Because the House leadership is supporting the Governor's tax proposals, the disagreement is essentially between the Governor and the Senate leadership. The Senate budget does a better job of putting public dollars to work for low- and moderate-income families. The Governor's tax proposals would disproportionately help the wealthy. 

Please write the Governor and urge him to negotiate a budget with the Senate. The only way to communicate with the Governor is via his website (I know -- it feels designed to screen us out). Here's what to do:

Go to the Governor's website:  https://www.governor.virginia.gov/communicating-with-the-governors-office/

From the topic dropdown, choose: Finance-taxes.

For the subject line, put:  Budget

In the message, put something like:  Please tell the Governor to work with the Senate to negotiate a budget that invests in human needs and does not lock in tax cuts that disproportionately serve the wealthy.  

Feel free to add more specifics if you would like, but the main thing we need to do is get the Governor more involved and focused on negotiating, not just promoting his tax cuts. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Kim Bobo
Executive Director

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