Thursday, July 12, 2007

Hypocrites Against Tax Equity

Glenn Richardson wants to put a constitutional amendment (HR 900) on the ballot that allows the state to tax your child's haircut, his daycare, his doctor's appointment and his trip to the dentist. But he's okay with that because Glenn and his rich friends, along with large, multi-state corporations, will make out like bandits. Now does that sound "fair" to you?

Rep. Glenn Richardson is loading his gun, ready to take another shot at middle class families in Georgia. His "GREAT" plan to eliminate all property taxes in Georgia, in favor of higher sales tax and new taxes on services, will put the screws to working families in Georgia who are already struggling to make ends meet. But Glenn doesn't care about these families. He proved that during the last session when he worked to limit their access to basic health insurance for their children. Glenn wants you to think that this tax disaster is about helping homeowners, but the facts just don't support that claim. He does care about his Big Development buddies and the large multi-state corporations this plan will benefit. Consider this:

Many Georgia families do not own their homes. According to the University of Georgia's Initiative on Poverty and the Economy, only 67.50% of Georgians own their homes, only 58.80% of those in Bibb County own their own homes. Why is the number lower in Bibb? Because we have higher poverty. People who have money are more likely to own property.

My point? There are a whole lot of people in Georgia who will not benefit directly from the elimination of property taxes. The increase in sales tax, along with the imposition of a brand new tax on services could constitute a substantial tax increase on middle class, working families and the poor. Sales taxes are considered "regressive" by respected economists and shift more of the tax burden to poor and middle class families.

The short story? If you're a large, multi-state corporation, you might think this is GREAT, but if you are an everyday working person, struggling to pay the bills, you're going to HATE this bill.

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5 comments:

Open+Transparent said...

Really nice job with this post.

Amy Morton said...

Thanks very much.

How to Tie a Tie said...

Tax a kid's haircut! fight back against such sillyness learn how to cut your kids hair at home!

Amy Morton said...

Unless we can also learn how to take out our child's tonsils, I don't think this approach will work!

Tina said...

The Republicans' ideological commitment to privatization is
going to be faced with backlash in 2008 I think.