Hide Your Children and Your Silver: Richardson is at it Again

Glenn Richardson is perfectly happy to make your child into a lab rat. If the experiment doesn't work out so well, not to worry, he promises not to make your city and county follow suit. He won't be able to fix things for your child, but it's all for a good cause-shifting more of the tax burden to the middle class and giving Atlanta politicians control of funding for our neighborhood schools while creating a statewide voucher system for private schools. It's really a cool idea. Rich kids in private schools will get vouchers, and middle class families will pay for it.

Almost exactly as predicted, Glenn Richardson has narrowed his tax plan to target public funding of education, letting municipalities and counties off the hook-for now. He is also leaving medical services off the list of newly taxable items, thus possibly gutting well-funded opposition to the Glenntax. He is still imposing a sales tax on food and other services. Including private school tuition, Glenn?

Here's my favorite line from Galloway's article in today's AJC: "If there's not enough money we won't go on to the next level." Uhm, Glenn, how will you fix the mess you're about to create for schools? This is a constitutional amendment, actually, two constitutional amendments. You can't just twitter your little rat nose and change it back to the way it was.

This republican-led legislature has zero credibility on school funding. Why should we in Macon, for example, send our school tax money up the road to Atlanta and trust them to send it back? Where is the cost savings in that formula? I thought republicans were supposed to be all about local control, yet they now want to centralize education funding for all of Georgia in Atlanta. I don't know about you, but personally, I like the idea that the people who set the school budget live in my community and their children attend the public schools. There's a different kind of accountability that comes along with running into your constituents at the grocery or at the Little League game. I like the fact that they have to deal with all of us directly. They have to look us in the eye. Atlanta politicians, not so much.

I'm hearing that the cities and the counties are not yet abandoning the schools systems, but that the Georgia Chamber has gone quiet. This is going to be an expensive, difficult, high stakes fight, and I question whether the education lobby is up to the challenge. The agenda is to centralize education funding in Atlanta, so that a statewide voucher system is possible, and simultaneously reduce the tax burden for the richest Georgians.

Sphere: Related Content

Georgia Democrats Set to Lead

Georgia democrats have a unique opportunity to lead this legislative session. Georgia is facing a severe drought-that threatens business. Georgia is facing a tax scheme-that threatens business. As Porter points out today in the AJC, Georgia democrats are in a unique position to be the voice of reason in an atmosphere of political extremism.

Sphere: Related Content

The Georgia GOP: Anti-Local Control Tax Zealots

I'm beginning to wonder just which wing of the Republican party these Georgia GOP anti-local control tax zealots belong to.

Like Glenn Richardson, Macon Rep. Allen Peake (my rep) wants you to pay sales tax on your child's daycare, dentist visit, haircut and scores of other services. He took to the editorial pages of the Telegraph yesterday to make clear his support of the Georgia GOP's Great Big Tax on Everything. Not only will you be paying a brand new tax on all services, if the Georgia GOP gets their way, local governments will be reduced to going hat in hand to Atlanta for their money. That should work out well-for Atlanta.

Opponents to this proposal are fighting to be first in line at the Glenn Richardson dunking booth. (If we did that and charged admission, we might not need the tax at all.) That liberal organization, The Georgia Municipal Association makes a compelling case this scheme is "not so great" after all.

In fact, in this scheme, metro-Atlanta (where property values are high and where control will be centered), big multi-state corporations and developers are the big winners, while Georgia's middle class, the service industries and rural counties are the big losers. If this tax plan becomes law, more than ever before, rural Georgia, where 87 counties are considered to be in a state of "persistent poverty" will be supporting the growth of metro-Atlanta.

Plus, don't you think that this GOP scheme is giving pause to business and industry considering locating in the state. If the resolution passes the legislature, it would need the approval of voters in November of 2008 before it could be implemented. That means that for the next year-at least-new business and industry considering moving into Georgia would not be able to accurately estimate what their costs might be. They would view Georgia's economy as unstable or at least as in a state of flux. Uncertainty does not attract business, and I'm betting this proposal has already scared off development deals that were in the works.

Regardless, Peake wants to make sure that you know he is concerned about the epidemic problem of Georgians being forced from our homes because we can't afford to pay our property taxes. I wonder just how many owner-occupied homes were lost last year in Georgia because of failure to pay property taxes? I don't know the answer yet, but I intend to call up our tax commissioner-while he still has a job-to find out. The truth Peake, Richardson and their comrades aren't telling is that it's not property tax, but health problems and medical bills that are most often the straw that sends the middle class into bankruptcy. I'm sure they will be leading the fight to make quality, affordable healthcare available for all Georgians.

Peake says that 70% of Georgians own their homes. He's almost right about that. According the the University of Georgia's Initiative on Poverty and the Economy, 67.5% of homes in Georgia are owner occupied, but in Peake's home county of Bibb, only 58.8% of homes are owner occupied. Plus, in high poverty and rural counties, mobile homes figure prominently in the % of owner occupied homes. For example, in Crawford county 84.76% of the homes are owner occupied, but 41.07% of those are mobile homes. That compares to about 12% of owner occupied homes in Georgia that are mobile homes. That matters because it is one factor that makes property values in rural Georgia much lower than in metro-Atlanta.

Finally, Peake makes the point that there are just too many entities in Georgia who can levy taxes. I wonder if he felt that way last session when he was the first sponsor on legislation to create a charter for Payne City in Bibb County-a charter that obviously includes the authority to levy taxes. Now, Peake seems to feel that state lawmakers are in a better position to make decisions about taxation than local governments. I disagree. Just this year, lobbyists for special interests spent nearly a million dollars wining and dining legislators during the forty days of this year's session. Of that, according to the Sate Ethics Commission, Peake himself took $1,785.85 worth of meals and hockey tickets, more than any other Bibb County legislator. So, unless you've got a lobbyist working for you in Atlanta, I think we're better off trusting locally elected officials to take care of local interests.

The bottom line is that no one likes taxes, and there is a need for tax reform in Georgia, but making the service sector the tax collector for the state while shifting the burden of taxation more and more to the middle class and removing control from local elected officials is just a great big mistake.

This is cross-posted at Tondees Tavern.

Sphere: Related Content

Essig to Speak in Macon

The mere mention of the word "taxes" may make you either yawn, start looking for an exit or both, but next year, Georgians are going to wish they'd paid attention. Some of the tax proposals that are slated to be debated during next year's legislative session could dramatically impact your pocketbook-and not necessarily in a good way. Plus, if Speaker Richardson has his way, taxing authority will dramatically shift away from local governments to Atlanta. It's fair to point out that the person in Atlanta that holds the purse strings most firmly is the Speaker of the House, a position that will become even more powerful if Richardson gets his way. You can see where this is going.

Next Friday, you have an opportunity to learn more about these issues. On Friday, August 31 at noon, Alan Essig, executive director of The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute will be the guest speaker for Politics and Lunch, a monthly lunch and learn program in Macon. The luncheon will be held at The Power Station at 1015 Riverside Drive in Macon. Essig will address the various tax proposals that are likely to be debated in the legislature in 2008. The cost, including your lunch is $10.00. To make reservations, please contact Amy Morton at (478) 741-1138 or AmyMorton@aol.com .

Sphere: Related Content

4 + 4 = 0

Georgia Republicans are fond of referring to their proposal to impose new taxes and engineer the greatest centralization of government in the history of the state as "4 Plus 4 = 0." (4 % sales tax plus 4% income tax = 0 property tax) They're right about one thing-this plan just doesn't add up, and they're drawing unexpected critics, including respected member of the business community.

Neely Young, writing for Georgia Trend shows very little love for Glenn Richardson's great big fat tax proposal. It seems that the Speaker's proposal to tax your child's haircut, daycare and dentist appointment would also not be very business-friendly. Young points out that 80% of Georgia business are in the service sector, and those services would be subject to a brand spankin' new 4% value-added tax. The Speaker opines that this is simply a pass through-that actually consumers of the services, not businesses, would pay the tax. Young, however, points out that the tax would show up as an expense and impact the a company's bottom line. (The Speaker also erroneously assumes that all clients of attorneys and patients of healthcare professionals show up prepared to pay.)

Young also points out what may be Richardson's real agenda here: if Richardson gets his way, the Speaker of the House will become the most powerful position in state government. Here's a portion of what Young has to say:

Soon, Georgia citizens will have two constitutional amendments proposing sales tax increases. One amendment will be for an addition to the motor fuel tax, and another for the Speaker’s 4 PLUS 4 = 0 proposal. The 4 PLUS 4 = 0 is not a tax reduction, but a tax shift, from property owners to business and to people who purchase services. Business will collect the tax; but, as noted before, will have to place the tax as an expense on each individual business’s general ledger, potentially lowering operating profits. But the proposed tax would also represent a shift in power from city and county governments and school boards to the State of Georgia. According to Georgia’s constitution, all taxing proposals must originate in the House of Representatives. Under this plan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives will gain more power than ever. With the state collecting all the tax revenue, this would raise the question of whether we need local mayors and council members, county CEOs or commissioners or school board members. For that matter, with so much power residing in the House of Representatives, would we even need a Governor or Lieutenant Governor, except as ceremonial positions? Under the 4 PLUS 4 = 0 plan, Richardson would make the Speaker’s office the most powerful position in Georgia.
Let’s assume that Glenn Richardson is skillful enough to implement his tax plan in such a way that he would make all city and county employees, not to mention teachers and ordinary citizens, very happy. But would the next Speaker, whoever that might be, be able to pull that off? The plan would concentrate a great deal of power in one position. Remember, the Speaker’s position is determined by the members of the House of Representatives, not by the general public. These House members are beholden to him for their positions. We could easily get stuck with a bad leader, and Georgia citizens would have no way to get that leader out of office.
This is a major danger in this proposed constitutional amendment and one that should be considered in the overall proposals.

Sphere: Related Content