Grocery taxes go down in Virginia. The minimum wage for tipped workers goes up in D.C. And low-income Marylanders will get access to free dental care.
Those are some of the changes that New Year’s Day will usher in as a smattering of new laws take effect in the Washington region, including minimum wage increases for non-tipped workers in Virginia and Maryland.
Virginia is eliminating its statewide 1.5 percent tax on groceries and personal hygiene products such as diapers and tampons. Localities will still have the authority to impose a 1 percent levy on groceries, however.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) called for the elimination of both state and local grocery taxes while running for office in 2021, but Democrats who control the state Senate insisted on letting localities retain their portion as an important source of local funding.
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Virginia’s minimum wage will rise from $11 an hour to $12 an hour. The hike is the final boost mandated by a law that Virginia Democrats pushed through in early 2020 after flipping the state Senate and House of Delegates. At the time, the state’s minimum wage had been stuck at the federal floor of $7.25 an hour for more than a decade.
The law lays out a plan for the minimum to reach $15 in 2026, but only if the now-divided General Assembly signs off. Under the plan, the minimum would stay at $12 for a year while legislators consider whether to approve further increases envisioned — but not dictated — by the law: $13.50 in January 2025...
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