🧆 Good morning, RVA: A regressive budget, meals tax issues, and municipal finance dark arts

Good morning, RVA! It’s 37 °F, and we’ve got a little bit of rain moving through the area as I write this. That should clear up with the sun and leave us facing another cool, sunny day with highs in the mid 40s. Early morning commuters: Maybe put on your thicker socks and bundle up just a little more!
 

Water cooler

Since December 20th, when Governor Youngkin announced his plan to cut personal income taxes and raise sales taxes, I’ve been waiting for The Commonwealth Institute’s analysis—because surely the Governor’s proposal enriches the wealthy and makes life harder for regular folks, right? Just 15 days later, and Jahd Khalil at VPM has the scoop from TCI. As foretold: “Youngkin is proposing to cut personal income taxes by 12% across all tax brackets and to raise the sales-and-use tax from 4.3% to 5.2%, an increase of 21%. That would, on balance, see the bottom one-fifth of Virginians pay more in taxes each year.” The Governor’s proposal would ultimately cut $3.5 billion from Virginia’s revenue over two years, and, instead of funding things like education, child care, or public transportation, “Two-thirds of the benefit…will flow towards high income tax filers in the top 20% of incomes in the state and then 20% alone will go towards the top 1%.” Classic Republican stuff, for sure, and I hope that Democrats in the General Assembly have a good plan for scrapping the more regressive parts of the Governor’s budget while also adequately funding critical public services—like education. Remember, as a result of the proposed budget, “Richmond Public Schools would face a $5 million reduction in its current budget and a nearly $21 million decrease in state funding for next school year”.
 

Also at VPM’s Dave Cantor reports on some issues with the City’s Finance Department collecting meals tax from restaurants—and, more importantly, not notifying those restaurants when they’ve missed a payment. While I totally get that it’s the business owner’s responsibility to check, double check, and triple check that they’ve made all of their required tax payments, it does seem just plain mean for the City to silently charge compounding late fees and not say a word about it. I mean, Cantor spoke to multiple restaurants who got hit with surprise five- and six-digit penalties! I think this might speak to some sort of structural issue within Finance, and newly-elected Council President Kristen Nye sort of points to the same thing, saying, “We’ve had challenges over the years with the meals tax and restaurant owners being able to see their accounts in real time…If a discrepancy happens … they are not notified. And once they get behind, if they don’t know, then it affects every payment.” This sounds like something for the new auditor to investigate, and I was stoked to see Cantor mention it at the very bottom of this piece!
 

Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports on some Diamond District stuff that I don’t really understand but seems important: “…efforts to tee up the first phase of Richmond’s Diamond District project are getting a funding boost from the city’s Economic Development Authority. The EDA board last month authorized staff to enter into a contract with Navigators Baseball LP, the ownership group of the Richmond Flying Squirrels, to provide up to $1 million in city funds to help advance the new stadium’s design and development.” Is this a million new, unanticipated dollars the City has decided to allocate to the project? Is it a part of the planned original phase that will eventually be financed through the dark arts of Municipal Finances, Bonds, and Development Authorities? I have no idea! I’m a big fan of the Diamond District project, so I will proceed with cautious optimism, I think, but full disclosure: I was previously a fan of both the Washington Training Camp and Stone Brewing Restaurant projects, too 😬.
 

RIC Today has put together a survey asking folks what they hope the new year brings and what it ought to leave behind. The early results are so incredibly transportation-related, and they fill my heart with pride. Here are just a few of the highlights that I hope I’ll see more of in 2024: more biking, affordable housing, and smart growth; skinny trails through the woods; speed tables; and less parking in the bike lane. I love all of these things!
 

This morning’s longread

Yes, it’s okay to compare Trump to Hitler. Don’t let me stop you.

We’ve got a full 10 months of Donald Trump coverage ahead of us, so I’m trying to be thoughtful and sparing (mostly sparing) about how much of it to include in this space. What will make the cut? Definitely this column by Mike Godwin, originator of Godwin’s Law, on how it’s OK to call Trump a fascist and compare him to Hitler.
 

But when people draw parallels between Donald Trump’s 2024 candidacy and Hitler’s progression from fringe figure to Great Dictator, we aren’t joking. Those of us who hope to preserve our democratic institutions need to underscore the resemblance before we enter the twilight of American democracy. And that’s why Godwin’s Law isn’t violated — or confirmed — by the Biden reelection campaign’s criticism of Trump’s increasingly unsubtle messaging. We had the luxury of deriving humor from Hitler and Nazi comparisons when doing so was almost always hyperbole. It’s not a luxury we can afford anymore.
 

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Picture of the Day

Spent cone flowers definitely qualify as Winter Interest.