Chuckles could be heard when the conservative Family Foundation spokesman and the progressive Interfaith Interfaith Center for Public Policy both threw their support behind the same bill Wednesday — a measure to limit the tax giveaways Virginia allows to businesses.
The bill, sponsored by Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge County, requires the General Assembly to limit new tax credits to a life of five years.
A nearly identical bill sponsored by Del. Dave Englin, D-Fairfax County, was combined with Cline’s HB 246 by a Finance subcommittee in the House of Delegates.
The bill will go forward under Cline’s name.
The chuckles rose in the small committee hearing room when the bills were endorsed by the Family Foundation and two progressive groups that also monitor legislation: the Interfaith Interfaith Center for Public Policy and the Commonwealth Institute.
“I’m happy to have any support I can get for creating a flatter, simpler tax code,” Cline said.
The governor’s office hasn’t weighed in on whether it favors the bill, but Cline said he hasn’t heard any opposition, either.
“It’s prospective, it looks forward, and doesn’t affect existing tax credits,” Cline said.
The existing tax credits are worth about $12 billion a year to the businesses that have received them, according to a study last year by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
The state collects about $14 billion in other business revenues, the JLARC study found.
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