August 28th, 2023 by WCBC Radio

While Maryland is looking at a budget deficit approaching $1.8 billion in five years, Virginia is following in the steps of neighbor state West Virginia in having a substantial budget surplus for the fiscal year that ended June 30th.  West Virginia finished the year with $1.8billion in surplus funds and Virginia is projecting a surplus of $5 billion going into the new fiscal year.  Governor Glenn Youngkin wants some of that money returned to the taxpayer in the form of long term tax relief for residents. Currently the Virginia General Assembly isn’t ready for Youngkin’s tax cut package that would cost more than $1billion per year in the next budget, but has offered a compromise of a one-time tax rebate of $1 billion that includes $200 for individual tax payers and $400 for couples.  The state of Virginia works on a two-year budget system that is currently $165billion.