Even an anti-Southern Bigot Agrees Virginia's Action Against UDC, Others IS Unconstitutional
Virginia's Unconstitutional Effort to Strip Property Tax Exemptions From Pro-Confederate Groups
Virginia’s Unconstitutional Effort to Strip Property Tax Exemptions From Pro-Confederate Groups
(Ilya Somin, Reason) - Earlier this week, Virginia Governor Abigal Spanberger signed into law a bill stripping property tax exemptions from various pro-Confederate nonprofit organizations:
On Monday, Virginia’s governor, Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat and the state’s first female governor, signed into law a bill that eliminates tax exemptions for organizations connected to the Confederacy.
HB167, passed by Democrats in the Virginia house and senate, specifically removes the Virginia division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Stonewall Jackson Memorial, the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, along with other groups, from the state’s list of organizations that are exempt from state property taxes.
While well-intentioned, this law nonetheless violates the First Amendment. I do not say that because I have any sympathy for the groups in question. I hate the Confederacy and all it stood for, oppose attempts to whitewash its reputation by claiming it wasn’t established for the purpose of defending the evil institution of slavery, support taking down Confederate monuments, and oppose right-wing efforts to restore restore military base names honoring Confederate generals.
Thus, I very much sympathize with what the New York Times describes as the bill sponsors’ desire to “distance Virginia from its Confederate past.” As a Virginia resident and a state employee (professor at a Virginia state university), I agree the…