Republican gubernatorial candidate and Taxpayer Protection Pledge signer Glenn Youngkin recently outlined his plan to provide relief to Virginia taxpayers. His plan includes lowering taxes, investing in students, and funding the police.
Virginia’s taxes and fees have increased at twice the rate of GDP growth. Youngkin’s plan will reverse this unfortunate trend.
First, Youngkin calls for Virginia to refund $1.5 billion tax dollars to taxpayers, or $300 per individual, and to suspend the recent gas tax increase for one year. Youngkin also supports small businesses and wants to protect them from over-taxation. To achieve this end, Youngkin calls for “fully funding the Virginia Unemployment Insurance Fund to prevent payroll taxes from increasing in 2022, providing a one-year tax holiday for small businesses on the first $250 thousand of income.”
He also wants to invest $700 million toward bringing universal broadband to rural Virginia to bridge the digital divide and allow them access to the benefits broadband brings with it.
Youngkin’s proposal would also work to fix Virginia’s schools and help its students. To do this, Youngkin operates on a simple principle: Parents should have power over how their children get educated.
Youngkin would have Virginia “provide $500 per public school student in refunds to parents to invest in student educational recovery” after many students’ education suffered from the lockdowns last year. In addition, to give parents more choice, Youngkin would pilot 20 new charter schools.
Youngkin believes supporting police and law enforcement is the answer to support public health and safety, not defunding them. “The Youngkin proposal would commit…$500 million to public safety and mental health.” In addition, to stop the wave of resignations and early retirement of police officers, Youngkin would offer a $5000 retention bonus for police officers over the next three years. He also calls for investing in better pay and better equipment for police and first responders.
In contrast, Youngkin’s opponent Terry McAuliffe believes that the higher taxes should stay. He called Youngkin’s gas tax plan “ a “gimmick” that would “literally destroy Virginia.“. In fact, as Governor, McAuliffe proposed several new taxes including taxes on products like “real estate sales, hotel stays and wholesale gasoline”.
Glenn Youngkin has a different vision of Virginia than his opponents. While free-spending candidates like Terry McAuliffe “live by the philosophy that government should decide all things” Youngkin believes the exact opposite, that government should take a step back and let the people choose for themselves how their money should be spent. As governor, he would be a strong ally to Virginian taxpayers.