Virginia's Biggest Issue: Income Disparity and Funding

Because of Northern Virginia's proximity to D.C. and government projects, this area has been steadily growing and become one of the most affluent and influential parts of the country. Along with the jobs, much of the state population is clustered here with approximately one-third of the state considering Northern Virginia home.   The rest of the state is rather different culturally, more rural in nature, typically have lower incomes, and significantly less populous.  The uneven allocation of funds across the state has lead to some regional tensions. 

Northern Virginia and the many surrounding companies pays disproportionately high tax with regards to how much that is received for funding in return.  Some estimates, Northern Virginia gets back only 25 cents on the dollar in cash and state services.  So for the millions of dollars that tax payers send in, only a fraction of that is used for things that directly benefit the Northern Virginia area.

As long as funds are being trapped in this system, Virginia's other large issues are only being exacerbated.  We cannot hope to fix our expensive transportation issue until funds are more balanced.  With some of the most congested roads in the country and millions of people traveling in to the surrounding D.C. areas to work, one can only hope these differences are settled soon.