Virginia Legislators Try Again to Revoke Property Tax Exemption for Confederate Heritage Organizations

Last year I told  you that the Virginia Legislature passed a bill that would revoke tax exemption for several specifically named confederate heritage organizations.  Governor Glenn Youngkin, who some view as a moderate Republican — if there still is such a thing — vetoed the bill, explaining quite reasonably that Virginia’s system of granting or revoking charitable property tax exemption by legislative designation was outdated and allowed for abuse.  Under Virginia law, an organization can be exempted if it fits within a relatively narrow classification consisting of dissimilar organizations ranging from religious organizations to libraries, the YMCA, and museums.  Charitable organizations that do not fit into the disparate group may be exempted by a specific state statute (that process is referred to as “designation”).   By statute, the legislature can also revoke property tax exemption by designation.  That is what the Virginia lawmakers are attempting to do once again.  Here is the summary of HB 1699, introduced and passed in the House last month and then in the Senate on Tuesday:

[HB 1699] Eliminates the exemption from state recordation taxes for the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and eliminates the tax-exempt designation for real and personal property owned by the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the General Organization of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, the Stonewall Jackson Memorial, Incorporated, the Virginia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc.

Maybe Youngkin really is a moderate sensible guy, but he campaigned for 2020 election denier and dog whistler Kari Lake back in 2020.  He also engaged in his own brand of demagoguery regarding critical race theory in his last election campaign.  He thinks critical race theory is “inherently divisive,” so nobody should think he won’t veto the bill again.  It’s just as well that he should, frankly.  In this day and age, it is hardly advisable that legislators should be allowed to yank tax exemption even for groups that romanticize slavery, racism and treason. 

If that precedent gets going on a national scale, there is no telling where it will ever stop.

darryll k. jones