From the Democratic Party of Virginia:
ICYMI: DPVA, Sen. Scott Surovell, Del. Jay Jones Highlighted Glenn Youngkin’s Dangerous Economic Agenda
Youngkin aspires to eliminate the income tax, which would destroy Virginia’s economy, decimate education and public safety
Richmond, VA — Today, DPVA and Democratic leaders held a virtual press conference to discuss Glenn Youngkin’s Trumpian economic agenda and his “aspiration” to eliminate the state income tax. As The Washington Post editorial board recently illustrated, Youngkin’s idea to eliminate the state income tax would decimate Virginia’s essential services — from education and infrastructure to public safety and health care — and would “do the trick” to drive Virginia’s economy “into a ditch.”
See below for key excerpts and watch the full conversation here.
Senate Majority Caucus Vice Chair Scott Surovell
“There’s a lot at stake for our Commonwealth in this election coming up. From our perspective, I think Virginians have a pretty clear choice between the candidate that we know we can count on to create some good-paying jobs, invest in education, keep Virginians safe, and someone who wants to roll back, basically, all the progress that we have made in the last two years and basically drive Virginia’s economy into a ditch just like they did in Kansas, which his economic advisor did.”
“Youngkin’s day 1 plan that he threw out yesterday, from my perspective, it’s a carnival of bad ideas from the last two decades led by this guy who was one of Donald Trump’s lead ring masters. Glenn Youngkin has said that Donald Trump represents so much of why he is running and nowhere, nowhere is that more clear than in this Trump-inspired plan to eliminate the Virginia income tax.”
“So just so everybody understands what that would mean, the income tax in Virginia basically makes up about seventy-two percent of our general fund revenues in our annual budget. Eliminating that means eliminating seventy-two percent of critical funds that basically pay for things like public education, higher-ed, parks, our Medicaid, and something that Republicans and Glenn Youngkin propose to be near and dear to their heart, public safety.”
“For somebody who is trying to model his campaign message off of failed campaigns in the past about crime, you would think that Glenn Youngkin would be a little more concerned about maintaining funding for police and keeping our streets safe than he is. But there is only one thing that he cares about right now and that is pleasing Donald Trump, he has made that very clear.”
“Make no mistake, his plan is a recipe for danger and disaster in our Commonwealth in Virginia and we shouldn’t let him anywhere near our Governor’s office.”
Delegate Jay Jones
“It’s truly shocking to really think about and contemplate how much damage Glenn Youngkin’s failed tax plan could do in just one community. […] When Glenn talks about keeping our communities safe, it’s very, very clear to me and so many others that he has absolutely no clue what he’s talking about.”
“The same goes for education. If Glenn Youngkin had his way, his plan would cut ten billion — and to borrow a phrase from our Governor Ralph Northam, that’s billion with a ‘b’ — from public education across Virginia. That would be a loss of thousands of teachers, and it’s certainly no way to help our students as they recover from the most difficult school year we’ve seen in generations.”
“We don’t want to see this Trumpian experiment come to Virginia and fail again because we’ve seen that story before. Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump, they share this top economic advisor Stephen Moore. And when he led the charge in Kansas to do the same thing with a tax plan, it was a failed effort and the results were so disastrous that the cuts were actually rolled back. Even Republicans couldn’t stomach the damage that that plan did to their state.”
“This is Glenn Youngkin’s model for Virginia. He wants to try to bring these failed policies, these Trumpian economic policies, to our great Commonwealth, which was, I will remind you all, recently named the best state for business for the second time in a row.”
“I’m here to tell Glenn Youngkin — Scott and I are here to tell Glenn Youngkin — that Virginia voters will not be fooled. We see your plans for what they really are, which is just an attempt to give your fellow billionaire Wall Street executives a handout at the expense of public school students and our public safety, and we’re not buying it and we won’t stand for it.”
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