Should the 2026 Virginia General Assembly choose to conform state tax laws to the full set of new tax rules at the federal level, Virginia families and businesses might save as much at $1.4 billion annually. That is a fresh estimate from the Tax Foundation, which looked at the impact of full conformity in all 50 states.

Jared Walczak is vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation and is well known and respected in Richmond, Virginia, where he worked as a legislative aide with a keen interest in tax matters. His team’s estimates are just that, and the Virginia Department of Taxation may be coming up with different numbers, but the Tax Foundation report can start the debate.

They might prefer we didn’t, but the time to press candidates for governor and for the General Assembly about these issues is now, before the November election. The recent good news about the state finishing yet another budget cycle with a healthy surplus should be part of the conversation. In his introduced budget in December, outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin could propose which of these provisions he would adopt.

Virginia’s default position on the income tax for years has been to conform to federal tax rules and definitions. Generally,........

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