Friday, August 27, 2010
Guv'ment Gov. Perdue would like to kill state income tax
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 4:23 PM
- Joeff Davis
- Sonny, from a completely unrelated event
Before you start figuring how you'll spend your leftover earnings, keep in mind that Sonny is leaving office in a little over four months and won't be around to change the state tax code. (In fact, while everyone else was wearing suits and ties at the hearing at the Georgia Freight Depot, he was wore a striped golf shirt, suggesting he's already got one foot out the door.)
And, besides, the goal of the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians (or SCTRFG for you acronym freaks) is not necessarily to lighten everyone's tax burden — but it may be to lighten some people's tax burdens.
Here's the official purpose of the SCTRFG, which was created this spring by an act of the Legislature:
It has been many years since there has been any systematic study of the State of Georgia's revenue structure, and there exists a need for such study today.
Why does there exist such a need? Well, because state revenues are in the toilet and the state government is facing its worst fiscal crisis in a generation.
Whether you're a screaming tea-bagger or a bed-wetting socialist, there's universal agreement that Georgia's tax system is outdated and obsolete, having been adopted in a bygone era when the cornerstone of the state economy was heavy manufacturing.
But how to fix things — ah, there's the rub. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed dropped by the hearing to make a few suggestions: revoke some tax exemptions; reduce the state workforce; and reinvest the savings in education.
That part about reducing the workforce was likely music to many Republicans' ears, but I'm betting that if there's any excess revenue, they'd prefer to issue rebates to voters — er, I mean, taxpayers — than to spend it on public schools. And most politicians would rather cut off their thumbs than eliminate tax exemptions.
Sara Beth Gehl, deputy director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, however, agreed that Georgia should re-examine the purpose and benefits of exemptions given over the decades to dozens of industries and interest groups.
"Over the years, we've chipped away at our tax base through exemptions and some reform is needed," she said.
Not only that, but there's no database of tax exemptions or any other tracking mechanism to tell policy-makers what exemptions are already out there, which have expired, which are still in effect, what they cost the state, etc.
There were still other ideas floating about on Wednesday. Christine Ries, a Georgia Tech econ prof who serves on the SCTRFG, gave a presentation showing that states with the lowest tax burdens have experienced the most economic growth. She also warned that rich people and corporations don't like paying taxes and will move to avoid them. My impression was that Ries' seemed to be advising lawmakers to shift away from income taxes in favor of sales taxes on necessities. In other words, she appeared to be arguing for a more regressive tax system that would place more of the burden on poor Georgians.
But I'm sure that our state's wise and noble leaders will consider all relevant data instead of simply voting for a proposal just because it seems to confirm their conservative ideology, right?
Anyway, for any tax-policy nerds interested in killing a few hours listening to a series of economic presentations, the first SCTRFG public hearing is this coming Monday, Aug. 30, in Augusta. Bring some popcorn!
Comments (7)
Showing 1-7 of 7
Oh yeah right. I REALLY want to pay almost 10% sales tax like in Tennessee. Screw that. I'm glad he is leaving office.
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Where has Sonny been for the past eight years? Would he also like to move Georgia's border to the Tennessee River?
@prizepatrol
I wouldn't want to pay 10% sales tax either, but it's certainly better than having it come out of your check before you see it. You can always control what you purchase, but to have the government take their share just because you earned it takes the control out of you hands.
Consumption based taxation seems to be a far better system for the long run of this country as opposed to income based taxation.
"Consumption based taxation seems to be a far better system for the long run of this country as opposed to income based taxation" based on what, pchuk?
Everyone knows cutting taxes is the best way to reduce deficits. Just look at how well it worked for the federal government 2000-present!
No no, cutting taxes creates jobs. It doesn't matter what happens to deficits, because Reagan PROVED that they don't matter.
*sargasm*
**that's an orgasm brought on by sarcasm**
There were a couple of external forces early and late in that decade that skewed everything, smitty.
Consumption taxes (with a buffer for the truly poor) would probably be better all around, combined with property taxes locally. Can't base the argument on anything but theory, it's a new idea. But you can't deny, underground money would then be collected, money for investment would rise, and the government would mostly withdraw from your financial colon.
It's all moot. It will never happen. No way to get from here to there. The systems are too different and the pols would lose mucho power without their tax hammer.
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