Economic Security

Statewide Tax Reform Campaign

A national study released in early 2002 by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities ranked Virginia as one of the harshest tax states for working class and working poor families. The study estimated that a single-parent family of three earning $17,661 would owe $483 in Virginia income taxes – the fourth highest figure in the nation, behind Kentucky, Hawaii and Alabama. With services being cut or eliminated and local governments scrambling to make up for decreases in state revenue, issues of tax reform have a major impact on other issues that need attention in Virginia.

VOP's statewide campaign to help Virginians understand state taxes, appropriations and expenditures achieved success on many levels in 2004. We worked with 18 other groups, held 41 workshops, used our news magazine and action alert system, developed a media campaign, organized informational visits with legislators and encouraged participation in public meetings. As a result, this campaign allowed VOP to experience a new level of organizational capacity.

Our work helped facilitate some improvements for the poor and working poor in Virginia:

  • a raise in the filing threshold from $5,000 to $7,000 for individuals and from $8,000 to $14,000 for married couples, which exempts 141,000 low-income Virginians from paying state income taxes
  • the creation of a new low-income tax credit for the working poor
  • an increase in the personal exemption from $800 to $900
  • elimination of the "marriage penalty"
  • a schedule of reductions in sales tax on food, working toward the total elimination of this tax
  • elimination of two common loopholes used by many major corporations and businesses to legally avoid paying state income taxes
  • elimination of a foreign income loophole
  • a tax increase on cigarettes
  • a means test of the deduction formerly based solely on age
  • preserved estate tax revenue on estates worth more than $1 million

VOP also worked with members and allies on other statewide improvements, including:

  • an increase of $1.5 billion in new state support to public education, reducing the pressure on local real estate taxes
  • an increase in $32 million to assist persons with mental disabilities
  • the largest infusion of funds for natural resource programs in Virginia's history
  • $15 million each year to the Water Quality Improvement Fund and $2.5 million per year to the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation

During the state revenue debate in 2004, the dialogue received much media attention, including a highlight in The New York Times. VOP was a forerunner and remains a central player in this issue. We were featured in articles in the Washington Post, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Virginian-Pilot (Tidewater), and the Roanoke Times, to name a few. We have been credited in a variety of publications in Virginia with providing continued grassroots leadership in addressing this critical issue.

Living Wage Activity

  • succeeded in getting the Albemarle County School Board, Albemarle County and the Charlottesville School Board to raise the wages of their lowest paid employees
  • succeeded in our living wage campaign for the City of Charlottesville for employees and contract workers
  • currently, playing a key part in the Virginia Alliance for Worker Justice, a new partnership of religious, community and worker organizations working to get legislation introduced to increase the Virginia minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour
  • supported the Tenants' and Workers' Support Committee, a VOP affiliate, in their efforts to successfully secure living wage ordinances in Alexandria and Arlington
  • supported the Richmond Coalition for a Living Wage as they got the Richmond School Board and the Richmond City Council to pay their workers a living wage
  • worked with students at the University of Virginia to press for a living wage for university contract workers
  • held two living wage luncheons in Wythe County to honor employers who pay a living wage
  • successfully worked with a broad-based coalition in 2001 – and again in 2004 – to stop state legislation that would have prohibited localities from enacting living wage ordinances
  • made a presentation on living wage campaigns at the 2001 Virginia AFL-CIO Convention
  • made a presentation to the Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Virginia, which adopted a resolution supporting the living wage and authorized a wage study of all church employees
  • co-sponsored a living wage forum in Blacksburg
  • facilitated two workshops –Win or Lose: What are the next steps? and How to Dismantle the “isms” in a Living Wage Campaign – at the Southern Living Wage Conference (Spring 2003)
  • held a living wage workshop for students from nine different Virginia college campuses including guest speakers Ben McKean, from United Students Against Sweatshops, and Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America
  • provided assistance to a living wage campaign at Emory & Henry College where they have produced a newsletter, gathered research and obtained signatures and endorsements

Statewide Affordable Housing Campaign

  • succeeded in getting the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) to approve more than $339 million to finance low-income home ownership and rental construction loans and set up a three-member creative financing team to work with local governments, non-profit organizations and developers to find new and more effective strategies to address low-income home ownership and rental needs throughout the state
  • succeeded in getting VHDA to open up its public comment process

Community Participation

  • succeeded in getting the City of Petersburg to fund a fair housing officer/housing ombudsman position
  • supported the Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR), a VOP affiliate, in its successful effort to push for increased representation of public housing residents on the local housing authority board, with the first public housing resident in the state serving as chair of a housing authority board
  • provided tours of low-income and working class communities for senior officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in Martinsville, the Eastern Shore and Northern Virginia
  • worked with labor and community groups to get the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond to set up a Community Development Advisory Council to address issues of concern to low-income and working class people, a major change in the Bank’s operation
  • co-sponsored a Community and Business Economic Development Symposium with the Wythe County Chamber of Commerce and the Community Affairs Office of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank to involve community leaders in working toward a long-term healthy local economy

What We Do