Tax work less
My long-term preference is to rely less on income taxes. I would rather tax consumption, with necessities taxed lightly or not at all and genuinely high-end purchases carrying a higher rate.
Affordability isn't one bill.
Richmond cannot decide what a gallon of milk or a used car costs. It does control taxes, regulations, state spending, utility rules, incentives, and a lot of the costs government pushes onto businesses and families. That's where I think the state should start.
Cut spending before adding taxes
If a program cannot show a real short-term or long-term benefit to Virginians, it should be on the table for reduction or elimination before government asks people for more money.
Don't hide business costs
Regulation can be necessary. It can also raise prices. I want to know what a rule accomplishes, what it costs, and whether a smaller business can realistically comply with it.
Taxes
Start by separating needs from luxuries.
Food, medicine, basic clothing, utilities, and other necessities should not be where government goes looking for the most revenue. Ordinary purchases can carry an ordinary tax. If somebody is buying a private jet, a second vacation home, or a truly high-end vehicle, I am much more comfortable putting a heavier consumption tax there than taxing another dollar somebody earned at work.
I don't want Richmond abolishing local personal-property taxes by fiat. Localities should retain that choice. I would rather use the state role to help identify workable alternatives so a county that wants to reduce or replace the car tax has options.
Everyday costs
Different markets need different answers.
Groceries
I don't want government setting grocery prices. I do want Virginia looking for unnecessary rules or costs that make it harder to move, stock, and sell food while keeping the rules that actually protect food safety.
Utilities
Power, water, and similar utilities are natural monopolies in many places. Digging up the same road so five companies can run five sets of pipes is not real competition. Strong rate and service oversight makes sense when customers cannot simply choose another provider.
Healthcare
I want more competition among providers and fewer barriers that exist mainly because established companies can afford them. Medicaid should remain a basic safety net, but with less bureaucracy, tighter eligibility, and stronger fraud controls.
Small business
Large corporations can absorb lawyers, licensing, compliance staff, and months of paperwork. A two-person company cannot. I want licensing and regulation tied to a real public need, not used as a moat around businesses that are already established.
Research context: the Federal Trade Commission notes that licensing can provide consumer benefits but can also increase entry costs, prices, and reduce access or choice.
Growth
New development should pay the bill it creates.
If a data center, industrial site, or major development requires new roads, water capacity, power generation, or environmental mitigation, existing taxpayers should not inherit that cost just because the project will generate tax revenue later.
My rule is pretty direct: measure the added cost, require the project to prevent or offset it, and don't socialize the bill after privatizing the benefit.
Power demand and reliability
Virginia power demand could double within 10 years under JLARC's unconstrained forecast.
JLARC says the data center industry is the main driver of that forecast. It also found that today's rates appropriately allocate current costs to the customers causing them, while warning that future growth can still increase system costs for everybody.
Demand index: today vs. 10-year unconstrained forecast
Illustrative index based directly on JLARC's finding that unconstrained Virginia power demand would double.
Source: Virginia JLARC, Data Centers in Virginia (2024). This is an unconstrained forecast, not a guaranteed outcome.
Nuclear had a 90.8% capacity factor in 2024.
U.S. utility-scale annual capacity factors. Capacity factor measures how much electricity a resource generated relative to its maximum possible output; it does not measure cost, emissions, or safety.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual.
These sources describe power-system conditions. They do not endorse a particular Virginia energy or data-center policy.
A delegate cannot order prices down.
I can support tax changes, spending cuts, utility oversight, regulatory reform, competition, and better rules around development. I cannot honestly promise that Richmond can make every bill cheaper. I would rather be specific about the levers the state actually has.
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