HB 979 Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Taxation provisions; increases standard deduction.

Summary
Taxation provisions. Increases the standard deduction to $10,000 for single individuals, $15,000 for individuals eligible to claim head of household for federal tax purposes, and $20,000 for married individuals beginning in taxable year 2027 and indexes such deduction amount for inflation beginning in taxable year 2028. The bill also removes the aggregate amount of housing opportunity tax credits that may be claimed for qualified projects across all calendar years and exempts food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products from the local sales tax. The bill establishes two new tax brackets beginning on and after January 1, 2027, that tax income in excess of $600,000 but not in excess of $1,000,000 at a rate of eight percent and income in excess of $1,000,000 at a rate of 10 percent. Finally, the bill provides that 50 percent of revenues generated by the new tax brackets will be dedicated to localities for maintenance, operation, capital outlays, debt and interest payments, or other expenses incurred in the operation of public schools.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Feb 11, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Finance Substitute Subcommittee #3 Subcommittee Substitute · 3 edits
MINOR
This bill version transition from a Finance Substitute to a Subcommittee Substitute primarily involves formatting and minor text adjustments rather than substantive policy changes. The core tax provisions, revenue distribution mechanisms, and eligibility criteria remain identical between versions. The changes appear to be editorial improvements for legislative markup purposes.
TECHNICAL

Added header formatting including session year (2026), bill number (HB 979), and amendment designation (House Substitute) with line numbers for legislative tracking purposes.

Adjusted patron attribution to include both Delegate Watts and Delegate Convirs-Fowler (HB 188) as prior sponsors.

Reorganized section headers and spacing for improved readability in the legislative markup format.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
9
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Feb 9, 2026
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends continuing to (Voice Vote)
lower
Feb 8, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
Assigned HFIN sub: Subcommittee #3
lower
Jan 13, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Finance
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Vivian Watts
Vivian Watts
DDemocratic
VA
14