HB 68 Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Real property; effect on rate when assessment results in tax increase, consideration of inflation.

Summary

Local taxation of real property; effect on rate when assessment results in tax increase; consideration of inflation. Provides that, in determining a locality's total real property tax levies for purposes of determining the rate of levy that the locality shall impose upon such properties in order to produce no more than 101 percent of the previous year's real property tax levies, such real property assessed value shall be reduced by the greater of (i) the change in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the U.S. Department of Labor, since the fiscal year of the last assessment or (ii) zero.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Dec 30, 2025 Last action Jan 28, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Finance Substitute · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended from its original introduction to a Finance Committee substitute version, primarily adding procedural language and clarifying inflation adjustment calculations. The core policy regarding property tax rate reductions when assessments increase remains substantially unchanged, but the substitute version adds explicit language about how inflation should be calculated when reassessments are not performed annually. This clarification helps ensure consistent application of the inflation adjustment mechanism across different assessment cycles.

Scope change

The scope of the bill remains the same - it still applies to county, city, and town real property assessments in Virginia. However, the substitute version adds procedural clarity about when inflation adjustments apply, which affects how the law is implemented in practice.

REQUIREMENT

Added explicit language requiring that when reassessments are not performed annually, inflation must be calculated by combining the rate of inflation for each fiscal year since the last assessment was performed using the CPI-U index.

TECHNICAL

Changed the language from 'adjusting the total of the value of the real property assessed by excluding any increase' to more clearly specify that inflation adjustments are made by referring to the greater of CPI-U change or zero.

Added draft formatting elements including page numbers, committee information, and 'Offered for Consideration' date stamps that were not present in the original introduced version.

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Full legislative history

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Key actions

Committee

Jan 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

Subcommittee recommends continuing to (Voice Vote)

lower

Jan 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

House subcommittee offered

lower

Jan 16, 2026

Committee

Assigned HFIN sub: Subcommittee #2

lower

Dec 30, 2025

Committee

Referred to Committee on Finance

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors