On March 24, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin will decide the fate of the Confederacy groups’ tax exemption in the Commonwealth of Virginia. If enacted, groups such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) will have to pay tax on real and personal property.
A similar attempt to eliminate these groups’ exemption from state recordation taxes was made in a 2024 bill vetoed by Youngkin, who called for broad-based tax system reform instead of picking winners and losers.
However, these amendments are part of a sustained push by lawmakers to redefine the Commonwealth from its racist past. In 2020, former Governor Ralph Northam authorized Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to begin taking down the statues that once stood on Monument Avenue, with the last statue of General Ambrose P. Hill being torn down in 2022.
In spite of these removals, Confederate heritage organizations have not lost steam in their engagement with the public. The new bill, sent to Youngkin’s desk in late February, aims to address the lingering remnants of the Commonwealth’s past.
Enrolled in the General Assembly as House Bill 1699 (HB1699), the bill intends to amend and repeal portions of Title 58.1 of the Code of Virginia that give tax exemptions to “lost cause” organizations, a myth that falsely claims that the Civil War was justified by the legality of secession and that the war was a defense of states’ rights against Northern aggression.
Organizations impacted include the Virginia Division of the UDC, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, the Stonewall Jackson Memorial, and the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust.
Proponets of HB1699 argue that they are not prohibiting these groups from operating in the Commonwealth, only disallowing historical revisionist organizations from having tax privileges. In the Department of Taxation’s fiscal impact statement for the bill, subjecting Confederacy-related organizations to state and local recordation tax, and real and personal property tax would bring an ‘unknown positive impact’ to state and local revenues.
Meanwhile, detractors say this is a slippery slope. In Youngkin’s previous veto for Senate Bill 517, which attempted to eliminate the same exemptions to these organizations last year, he argued that narrowly targeting organizations to gain or lose tax exemptions by simple majority sets an imprudent precedent.
Additionally, Confederacy organizations’ assets could possibly be protected under Article X, Section 6 of Virginia’s Constitution, which stipulates: “Property used by its owner for religious, charitable, patriotic, historical, benevolent, cultural, or public park and playground purposes, as may be provided by classification or designation by an ordinance adopted by the local governing body and subject to such restrictions and conditions as provided by general law.”
Ultimately, it is up to Youngkin whether or not this bill will become the law of the land. The State of Virginia is notorious for its inability to evolve, as seen by the numerous failed attempts to allow Governors to serve consecutive terms.
Inversely, the changing political landscape in Virginia sees more popularity with progress past their Confederate heritage.
Even if the bill gets vetoed, Confederate organizations will have to face an uphill battle to maintain the status quo.