At first, it seemed like something from the satirical newspaper “Babylon Bee.” The new governor of Virginia, the “moderate” Democrat Abigail Spanberger, has proposed a tax hike on services such as dog walking and grooming.
Additional proposed tax hikes include levies on guns and ammunition, storage facilities, dry cleaning, home repairs, food delivery services and package deliveries, as well as a new personal property tax on electric leaf blowers (but not gas-powered blowers?) and electric landscaping equipment.
There is no economic reason for raising taxes in Virginia. When his single term expired last month, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin left behind numerous successes, including a $572 million budget surplus, above the forecast. That made four consecutive years of surpluses, resulting in $10 billion in surplus revenue.