The Macon Telegraph: Tax breaks, including sales tax exemption for "groceries," costing state hundreds of millions in revenue. Programs to suffer.
In the Sunday Macon Telegraph appears another one of Andy Peters' keepers. Stories such as this don't just flow from a reporter's head; there are time and research intensive to produce.
Do you recall the in-depth stories Andy did this summer using data from prior elections to predict the outcome of the various state House and Senate races on Nov. 2? Regardless, let me tell you, he was on the money on all of them.
His headline in his latest article that appears below in bold tells it all.
His research reviews some of the same issues I did in my 10-09-04 post in which I make the case for removing the sales tax exemption on "groceries" during the upcoming legislative session.
Excerpts from Mr. Peters' article follows:
Tax breaks, loopholes, low rates shaving hundreds of millions from state's revenue
Getting a haircut or buying a bunch of bananas in Georgia? You won't pay sales tax. But if you're purchasing shampoo and hairstyling pomade, be prepared to pay it.
Those are some examples, critics say, of odd loopholes and tax breaks in Georgia tax system.
In the past 20 years, the Georgia General Assembly passed countless exemptions in sales tax, income tax and property tax.
All these items add up to a gaping hole in Georgia's bank account, according to academics who study the state budget.
The issue is expected to be at center stage in the 2005 legislative session, when state government is expected to consider ever-deeper cuts in human services. Advocacy groups for the poor, the disabled and children plan to cite the state's deficiencies in collecting taxes to argue against further budget cuts.
Most of Georgia's exemptions, shelters, loopholes and rock-bottom tax levels have either outlived their original purpose, or cost the state more than they produce in other economic activity, one academic said.
If the state doesn't make changes to its tax laws, with the costs of education and health-care rising faster than spending cuts can keep up with them, Georgia may reach a state of "permanent fiscal crisis," said Alan Essig, director of the nonpartisan Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
"Our tax structure hasn't kept up with the economy or the times," Essig said.
[I]f you're a Canadian driving down Interstate 75 to the Florida beaches, and your sport utility vehicle looks like it's running on empty near Chattanooga, Tenn., hope there are enough fumes left to get to Ringgold to fill up your tank. That's because gas is 8 cents per gallon cheaper in Georgia than Tennessee. Georgia has the lowest motor-fuel tax in the United States, at 12 cents per gallon.
Since taking office in January 2003, Perdue has chopped more than $1.6 billion in state spending. He's told state agency heads that he's likely to propose more spending cuts in the budget for fiscal 2006 that he will submit to the Legislature in January or February.
_______________
If you haven't, I encourage you to review my 10-09-04 post. By law our state is required to operate a balanced budget. It we don't repeal the sales tax on "groceries" that should not have been adopted in the first place, the state is not going to have the revenue to continue important human services.
Some might consider the position I advocate as being on the Republican side of the equation. Reading my post should change this. Without this change, I foresee further, deeper and continuing cuts in human services in the upcoming legislative session.
Do you recall the in-depth stories Andy did this summer using data from prior elections to predict the outcome of the various state House and Senate races on Nov. 2? Regardless, let me tell you, he was on the money on all of them.
His headline in his latest article that appears below in bold tells it all.
His research reviews some of the same issues I did in my 10-09-04 post in which I make the case for removing the sales tax exemption on "groceries" during the upcoming legislative session.
Excerpts from Mr. Peters' article follows:
Tax breaks, loopholes, low rates shaving hundreds of millions from state's revenue
Getting a haircut or buying a bunch of bananas in Georgia? You won't pay sales tax. But if you're purchasing shampoo and hairstyling pomade, be prepared to pay it.
Those are some examples, critics say, of odd loopholes and tax breaks in Georgia tax system.
In the past 20 years, the Georgia General Assembly passed countless exemptions in sales tax, income tax and property tax.
All these items add up to a gaping hole in Georgia's bank account, according to academics who study the state budget.
The issue is expected to be at center stage in the 2005 legislative session, when state government is expected to consider ever-deeper cuts in human services. Advocacy groups for the poor, the disabled and children plan to cite the state's deficiencies in collecting taxes to argue against further budget cuts.
Most of Georgia's exemptions, shelters, loopholes and rock-bottom tax levels have either outlived their original purpose, or cost the state more than they produce in other economic activity, one academic said.
If the state doesn't make changes to its tax laws, with the costs of education and health-care rising faster than spending cuts can keep up with them, Georgia may reach a state of "permanent fiscal crisis," said Alan Essig, director of the nonpartisan Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
"Our tax structure hasn't kept up with the economy or the times," Essig said.
[I]f you're a Canadian driving down Interstate 75 to the Florida beaches, and your sport utility vehicle looks like it's running on empty near Chattanooga, Tenn., hope there are enough fumes left to get to Ringgold to fill up your tank. That's because gas is 8 cents per gallon cheaper in Georgia than Tennessee. Georgia has the lowest motor-fuel tax in the United States, at 12 cents per gallon.
Since taking office in January 2003, Perdue has chopped more than $1.6 billion in state spending. He's told state agency heads that he's likely to propose more spending cuts in the budget for fiscal 2006 that he will submit to the Legislature in January or February.
_______________
If you haven't, I encourage you to review my 10-09-04 post. By law our state is required to operate a balanced budget. It we don't repeal the sales tax on "groceries" that should not have been adopted in the first place, the state is not going to have the revenue to continue important human services.
Some might consider the position I advocate as being on the Republican side of the equation. Reading my post should change this. Without this change, I foresee further, deeper and continuing cuts in human services in the upcoming legislative session.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 8:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home