Elections Have Consequences: Virginia Just Gave Billions in Rebate Checks to Taxpayers, Maryland Just Raised Taxes   

Thanks to smart fiscal management, the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, R-Va., just mailed numerous Virginia households checks ranging from up to $200 and $400. 

This pleasant surprise for many of us heading into the holiday shopping season is indicative of the competent, prudent leadership that will fall by the wayside if Virginians fail to continue Richmond’s fiscally conservative leadership. 

Youngkin announced these checks—tax rebates—late last month for eligible taxpayers—up to $200 if they filed individually, and up to $400 if they filed jointly. Because of Virginia’s record job growth and capital investments under Youngkin totaling $140 billion, Virginia enjoyed surpluses for four straight years.

“This fall’s tax rebate reflects a simple truth: it’s your money, not the government’s,” Youngkin said as he announced the rebates. “We have made record investments supporting teachers and students, law enforcement, and Virginians facing behavioral health crises, while also lowering costs for individuals, families, veterans, and small businesses.” 

The Youngkin/Earle-Sears administration’s wise financial stewardship created more than $10 billion in surplus revenue and $9 billion in tax relief for Virginia households since Youngkin took the oath of office. That tax relief has included rebates delivered in 2022, 2023, and 2025, the elimination of the state’s sales tax on groceries, an increased standard deduction, an enhanced Earned Income Tax Credit, and expanded tax relief for veterans and their surviving spouses. 

All told, the current Virginia administration saved the typical Virginia family more than $4,600 and service-connected families more than $12,600.

“Governor Younkin is always looking for efficient and effective ways to reduce the burden on Virginia families,” Peter Finocchio, press secretary for Youngkin, told The Daily Signal. “Since his first day in office, Governor Youngkin has governed with the philosophy that it is Virginians’ money, not the government’s. While tax rebates are not new, the amount of relief that Governor Youngkin has been able to deliver for Virginians is unprecedented.”

To be eligible, taxpayers must have had tax liability in 2024 and filed by Nov. 3, 2025. Taxpayers could visit tax.virginia.gov/rebate to check their eligibility for a tax rebate. Eligible taxpayers, who filed their state taxes prior to July 1, were sent rebates by Oct. 15, 2025, arriving by the end of October. Taxpayers who received a state tax refund by direct deposit this year should expect to receive their tax rebate by direct deposit in the same bank account. All other eligible taxpayers will receive their rebate by paper check in the mail.

Virginia also has the state secretary of finance, Stephen E. Cummings, to thank for Virginia’s robust financial health. Before moving into public service, Cummings was a titan in financial services, serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in the Americas, one of the world’s five largest banks and the largest foreign bank operating in the United States. Cummings is the type of self-sacrificing public servant leadership that Virginia will lose if voters choose poorly in November.

Virginia and its neighboring state Maryland provide the perfect natural experiment in what would happen if conservatives lose Virginia’s Governor’s Mansion. Maryland’s Democrat governor, Wes Moore, squandered outgoing Republican Larry Hogan’s budget surplus.

“For eight straight years, we balanced the budget without raising taxes—in fact, we cut taxes, tolls, and fees every single year, totaling $4.7 billion in relief,” Hogan wrote in a statement in August. “When we left office, Maryland was in the strongest financial position in state history, with a record $5.5 billion surplus.”

In an about face, this year, Moore raised taxes on the backs of Maryland taxpayers instead of sending out checks.?

Virginia’s choice couldn’t be more clear: prudent, abundant economic growth with conservative leadership or fiscally reckless, resource squandering, tax-raising progressive failures. My fellow Virginians: Choose wisely.?? 

Carrie Sheffield, a Virginia voter, is a senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Voice and leads the Northern Virginia chapter of the Independent Women’s Network. 

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. 

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