Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 1 of 3 · from the scan, no model involved
Taxing your benefits
Elsewhere on this page Sen. Kevin Miller takes a shot at his Democratic collegues for their statements on Virginia’s willingness to tax Social Security benefits. Technically the Democratic response is correct: Virginia does not tax social security benefits that are subject to taxation on the Federal return. Unfortunately, Sen. Miller also is right: social security income will raise your tax bill in Virginia.
This is a little confusing. Federal tax law provides a sliding scale. As your taxable income climbs above a threshold, more and more of your Social Security benefits are subject to taxation. In Part III of Virginia’s Form 760, the state allows certain subtractions from the Federal Adjusted Gross Income, which is the key number for the Virginia tax return. On line 39 (in Part III) taxpayers enter the amount, if any, of Social Security benefits that were included in the Federal Adjusted Gross.
See. The Democrats are correct. Virginia does not tax these benefits.
But wait. Go back to Part I — Age deduction for taxpayers age 62 and over. This section of the state tax return allows those over age 62 to deduct $6,236 from their taxable income and those above age 65 to deduct $12,472. That’s nice. Only there is a slight catch. The amount of the deduction is reduced by the amount of Social Security benefits on a dollar for dollar basis.
If you are 63 years old and received $6,236 or more in SS benefits, the entire deduction is wiped out. Your taxable income has risen and so has your tax bill. Isn’t that slick?
When you go to the polls this November, remember this little piece of smoke and mirrors brought to you by the Democratic majority in the General Assembly with the kind and generous help of our Democratic governor.
95.8%