GA Senate Wants To Kick Local Governments While They're Down

Decatur Metro | February 7, 2009 | 8:17 pm

In case your interested, on Friday the Georgia Senate voted to kill the Homestead Tax Relief Grant for the coming year.

No big surprise there, right?  The state needs to balance its housing bubble-induced budget, so the $428 million saved should help.  We all pay a couple extra hundred bucks on our property taxes, but hey whatcha gonna do?

However, since most people won’t be thinking “Hey, whatcha gonna do?” when they see they gotta pay hundreds more in property taxes in a crappy economy, the senators at the GA capital are looking for ways to cover their behinds from angry taxpayers.

And who better to hide behind than local governments?!

So, on the same day that the Senate voted to nix HTRG, they also voted to increase the homestead exemption from $2,000 to $4,000, decreasing the amount of tax revenue sent to local governments already struggling to balance their individual budgets.

So, that means your local government will be in the unenviable position of choosing between cutting services and raising taxes right after the state has already done it by eliminating HTRG!  Hooray!

So, when you’re looking to spread the blame this coming year,  make sure to save a little extra for your state legislator.

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No Responses to “GA Senate Wants To Kick Local Governments While They're Down”

  1. JEM says:
    February 9, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    I thought the mantra of those in power in the state of Georgia was to give money back to the people through tax cuts. I guess that want the Feds to do it, not they themselves.

  2. Helme Calfee says:
    February 13, 2009 at 7:43 am

    well!
    Lets see what the stimulus package has in store for our fair state.
    Go to http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_state/GA

    Nice to know they have cut out the pork …. no so much

    Here is an idea for real stimulus. Tax Holiday for 12 months, no income and payroll taxes.