Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says he won’t support recently passed budget that includes tax hike

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The budget the Democratic-led Virginia General Assembly passed last week is a “broken” plan that would impose a $2.6 billion tax hike over two years, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Thursday, announcing he had asked lawmakers to work with him on revisions.

Youngkin, who said he hoped to avoid vetoing the budget as a whole, called on Democratic leaders to “get around the table” with his administration to refashion a plan that axes a proposed new sales tax on digital goods and makes corresponding spending cuts to account for the revenue reduction. Youngkin suggested he could then submit compromise amendments to the budget for a General Assembly vote in April, when lawmakers reconvene next.

“So that’s the work we’ll do over the course of the next three weeks in order to come up with a budget that does not have tax increases in it and make sure that we’re funding our key priorities,” Youngkin said.

He also made clear he would keep pushing to advance another priority lawmakers have so far rejected — a $2 billion development district with a new arena backed partly by public dollars and intended to lure the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals to Alexandria.

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