Virginia Tax Measure for Space Not in Budget

Virginia state legislators are having the toughest legislative session in decades with the state budget cuts amounting to over $4-billion over the next two years. The cuts created an atmosphere that lead to the defeat of measures in the Senate and House of budget amendments to divert sales taxes and/or state income tax earnings from human spaceflight to the operational budget of the state's commercial spaceport. The proposal did not raise taxes, instead it earmarked potential revenue.

Since the measures lacked "revenue specific" numbers, the money committees of the legislature took the safe approach and did not include the measures in the state budget for the next two years, according to a spokesperson for State Senator William C. Wampler, Jr., a member of the Senate Finance Committee.

It is safe to expect an effort to get Wampler budget language into a bill to be codified (enacted into law) in 2011 as opposed to inclusion into the state budget. The measure is only expected to generate revenue for Virginia's commercial spaceport operations if commercial human spaceflight income or sales taxes has a nexus to state jurisdiction.