Billionaire Gov. Youngkin Signs Largest Budget in State History, Funded by New Taxes on Everyone Else

The governor, a billionaire many times over, signed the largest budget in his state's history this year, a record-setting spending plan balanced in part on new taxes falling on businesses and residents whose fortunes are measured in considerably fewer commas.

Supporters praised Gov. Youngkin as a steward willing to make hard choices, while opponents noted that none of the hard choices appeared to involve the governor himself, whose family fortune comfortably exceeds the shortfall the taxes were written to close.

The Press's budget desk observes that 'fiscally responsible investment' and 'reckless tax-and-spend' are the two permanent names for a large state budget, assigned not by its contents but by which party's billionaire holds the pen.

Asked how a personally enormous fortune squared with new levies on ordinary earners, the governor's office replied that the two subjects were entirely separate and would prefer to be discussed in separate rooms, ideally on separate days.

The budget takes effect this fiscal year, funded by a citizenry that will pay the new rates in installments and the governor, analysts confirmed, in the form of a signing ceremony.