Virginia is committed to eliminating tax breaks for the Confederate Heritage Group
Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly have passed bills that would eliminate unusual tax exemptions for a prominent Confederate heritage group with long ties to the state, marking a tough decision for Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
At issue is legislation that would eliminate tax exemptions for the marble-clad headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group founded in 1894 for women descended from Confederate soldiers and long at the center of Virginia’s culture wars over the state’s Confederate heritage and racial history.
Since at least the 1950s, the group, whose stated purpose is to honor Confederate ancestors through memorial preservation and charitable work, has been exempt from paying real estate taxes and registration taxes, which are levied when real estate is sold to the public is registered.
Supporters of the legislation say the tax breaks, approved during segregation, reflect a time when the state government and Confederate heritage groups had a close relationship. The group and its allies say the legislation could jeopardize the organization’s operations and endanger its Richmond headquarters.
On Monday, the state House of Delegates approved a bill that would repeal the exemptions while eliminating property tax exemptions for two other Confederate heritage entities, the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Inc. and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society.
About six members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy were in the stands and were introduced before the vote by Republican House member Wren Williams. A similar bill was passed by the Senate last week.
Both bills passed largely along party lines, with support from Democrats. Since neither passed with a margin close to the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto, Mr. Youngkin, a Republican, will likely decide their fate. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats.
In an email, Christian Martinez, a spokesman for Mr. Youngkin, said only that “the governor will review any legislation that comes across his desk.”
Don Scott, a Democrat and speaker of the House of Delegates, said the legislation reflected a change for the better in Virginia.
“If the governor vetoes these bills, I won’t be surprised, but it will be very disappointing,” Mr. Scott said in an interview after the House of Representatives passed the bill. “But hopefully not.”
In an earlier interview, he said it was important to revoke the exemptions of “organizations that continue to promote the myth of the romantic version of the Confederacy.”
The United Daughters of the Confederacy did not return requests for comment. In an online public response against the Senate bill, an official with the organization said the legislation “threatens the continuation” of the group’s activities.
Frank Earnest, a spokesman for the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a separate but like-minded group, said the legislation was “a political vendetta and it must be stopped.” He added: “If people knew what these ladies were and what they actually did, instead of what they are told, there would be no debate” about their tax exemptions.
According to the book “Dixie’s Daughters” by Karen Cox, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the United Daughters of the Confederacy built statues and tried to justify the Confederacy by teaching that it was fighting for states’ rights, in place before slavery. In the 1910s, the group approved materials honoring the Ku Klux Klan.
The group’s influence has waned in recent decades and many of the statues it commissioned, including the Confederate Memorial in Arlington Cemetery, have been removed. Its headquarters were set on fire after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, and the group spent $3 million on repairs and renovations, the report says.
In an online statement, the organization denounced any group that “promotes racial division or white supremacy.”
As a nonprofit, the organization is exempt from federal income taxes. According to the 2022 tax returnthe organization had $1.4 million in revenues and $1.2 million in expenses.
This year, the total real estate value of the headquarters was estimated at $4.4 million. A representative of Richmond’s real estate expert confirmed to Virginia Public Media that if the legislation were signed, the property would be “subject to the city’s regular tax rate,” which is $1.20 for every $100 of assessed value. The tax can exceed $53,000 annually for the property.
Efforts to rescind the group’s exemptions began when a Virginia Beach teen heard about it at a family dinner.
Simone Nied, 17, had developed an interest in the legacy of the Confederacy after the 2020 social justice demonstrations and reading the book “Robert E. Lee and Me” by Ty Seidule. At a dinner in 2022, Ms. Nied’s father mentioned that through his work as a lawyer, he found the United Daughters of the Confederacy exemptions in the state tax code, she said in an interview.
Ms. Nied, who would later become an intern for former U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, a Democrat, began contacting lawmakers and came into contact with Mr. Scott, then a Democratic member of the House of Representatives. In 2023, Mr. Scott proposed a bill to eliminate the exemptions, but it failed in the House of Representatives, which was then controlled by Republicans.
But the legislature changed when Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in last November’s elections and Scott became Virginia’s first black speaker.
The registration tax section of the tax code lists categories of entities that qualify for exemptions, such as hospitals and businesses. The Virginia division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy is the only organization mentioned by name. Alex Askew, a Democratic House member who introduced the current House bill, said in an interview last week that it didn’t make sense for the group the recording exemption.
In 1950, Governor John S. Battle signed a deed giving the group land in Richmond for its headquarters. The deed provided that if the group could not maintain the grounds and building, it would lose its right to the property, “including all improvements thereto,” and the property would revert to the state. Two years later, the legislature approved the organization’s exemptions from state and local property taxes and the Virginia division registration tax.
In an online public response against the Senate bill, Susan McCrobie, the group’s historian general, said the exemptions and the deed had been extended together by the state, so repealing the exemptions could jeopardize the deed. If the terms of the deed are violated, the property, including the building, can revert to the state.
She stated that if the bill becomes law, the organization and the legislature “will be brought before the court for trial.”
Ms McCrobie did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Mr Askew, who introduced the House bill, said it was not an attempt to stop the group’s charity work. “It’s not about taking them down,” he said. “It’s just more about what we want to express in the Commonwealth and how our policies reflect who we are today.”