One of the General Assembly’s biggest tasks this year is to develop and approve a two-year budget — where will the money come from and how will it be spent. The process begins with a lot of predicting, with hopes it will be right, or at least very close. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story:

Virginia’s Secretary of Finance Aubrey Lane appeared this week before the Senate Finance Committee, where he presented his department’s best sense as to how much tax revenue Virginia can expect to come in over the next two years. Factors include things like job numbers, revenue now coming in through Internet sales taxes, and defense spending in Virginia. Lane says revenue estimates are conservative in efforts to avoid state deficits should tax collections fail to meet expectations.