Tuesday, February 17, 2009
News Perdue curbs desire to make us all pay more
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 11:28 PM
This afternoon, Gov. Perdue announced he had some good news and some bad news.
First the bad news: The latest state revenue figures have come in and they indicate Georgia will be bringing in nearly half a billion dollars less than previously thought.
Next, the good news: Although it breaks his heart to do it, Sonny will refrain from vetoing the Legislature's efforts to honor the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant one last time. This means Georgia homeowners will not be forced to shell out another $200 to $300 to cover a $428 million gap in last year's property tax collections. Perdue sincerely wanted to put the screws to taxpayers, but the Obama stimulus bill has robbed the old Scrooge of any decent excuse he may have thought he had to stiff us.
I find it amusing when politicians find it necessary to issue a press release in reaction to one another's actions – as if taking credit for what someone else has done. This time, it was ambitious Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, who decreed:
"While Washington D.C. places almost a trillion dollars in debt on the American people, we in Georgia are delivering real tax relief to homeowners. The legislature declared that funding the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant was our top legislative priority. Today with the cooperation of the Governor, the Senate, and the House, we have reached an agreement to deliver on this promise to taxpayers. This is good day for homeowners in Georgia."
Thank god for Chip.
I'd heard scuttlebutt that Perdue would also announce that because the state now knows how much it's getting from Washington – nearly $6 billion – the Legislative Session can wrap up earlier than planned. You'll remember that, a couple weeks back, the governor and GOP leaders decided to meet just three days a week through March, take a couple months off and return in June to knock out the budget. Word was that Perdue had determined the session could end in April, but no such announcement was made today. We're still holding out hope.
Comments (1)
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The commitment to fund HTRG (Homeowners Tax Relief Grant) was because of reduction in the size of government...not uncertain $ from the taxpayers via Washington. It is still unsure about what funds GA will receive and what strings are attached. So, the funding of HTRG didn't come from Washington.
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