Three editorials in three different papers blast the GlennTax today.
Bill Kinney in the Marietta Daily Journal:
Richardson calls his plan “GREAT,” for “Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad-Valorem Tax.” It would eliminate most sales tax exemptions, including those on food and drugs; would expand the state sales tax; and would tax all services. That means that things never before taxed would start being taxed, including attorney fees, doctor and dental fees, senior living and nursing home fees, surgery costs, funeral costs, landscaping, house cleaning, haircuts, water and sewer bills, day care and much more, Radford says.
[...]
Young parents with children in daycare, on the other hand, who now might be paying $145 a week for an infant would have to pay an extra $10.15 per week in taxes, which tallies to an extra $528 per year.On the other end of the spectrum, basic care in an assisted-living facility is now about $2,400 per month. Under Richardson’s plan, that would jump $168 per month, or an extra $2,016 in taxes.
The editorial board of the Augusta Chronicle:
The GREAT acronym stands for “Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad Valorem Tax.”
It should be “Glenn Richardson’s Extremely Awful Tax.”
How can any citizen of Georgia think it would be a good idea for local governments to lose control of how they handle their money? It’s the people on the local level who know best how money should be spent on local projects. Under GREAT, the fate of what gets done in Augusta will rest in the hands of non-Augustans under the Gold Dome.
Treutlen County Commissioner Gerald Hooks explained it this way to Georgia Trend magazine: “Under the present system it is a proven fact that counties have to wait two to three months now before getting our portion of sales tax collected by the state. Can you imagine having to tell a county employee that we do not have the money to pay his salary because the state has not sent us our money?
“I think Richardson has turned into a Democrat.”
And…the editorial board of the Macon Telegraph:
For example, under Richardson’s plan, residents would pay sales taxes on water delivered through water lines. Ride a city bus, pay a tax. Buy a Georgia Lottery ticket, pay a tax. Make a long-distance phone call, pay a tax. Fill a prescription, pay a tax. Visit a doctor, pay a tax. Lawyer? Pay a tax. Enter the hospital, pay a tax. Get a hair cut, yep, it’s taxable.
[...]
The first rock the speaker will have to traverse will be in the House where he wields the gavel. While he can cajole some support with a variety of arm twisting, it’s doubtful he will be able to get the two-thirds vote necessary to pass the required constitutional amendment. Lawmakers in his chamber are hearing from city councils, county commissions and school boards that Richardson’s plan would be a great disaster. Byron’s Mayor Larry Collins, when asked about Richardson’s plan, told an audience to read the “Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx, if they wanted to know what the GREAT Plan is all about.
The next session is going to be interesting. The state legislature will be taking up several very contentious issues (Grady, the drought, etc.). The GlennTax may be a headache that many members of the Republican caucus in the legislature don’t want to take up.
I can’t wait until January.
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Damn, we’ve been bashing this plan on PP for months now, and AFAIK, none of us have come up with such a creative acronym.
Score one for the MSM.
What would be the legal ramifications of the speaker’s tax on TAD/TIF bonds? Millions (possibly hundreds of millions or even billions) of TAD bonds have been issued in the state of Georgia. Property owners in the TAD areas have seen the money from those bonds spent on projects that vastly increased the value of their property. This was done in return for those property owners agreeing that their new higher property taxes on their new higher valued property would go to repay the bonds.
If all property tax is done away with, how do the bonds get repaid? The bond holders certainly aren’t just going to go away. Can they sue and win over this issue?
Pulling money out of the general fund to pay off TAD bonds seems like a bad idea for two reasons. The first is that the property owners in TAD areas got a bunch of public money for improvements to their property. They’ve already received the benefit but if property taxes are done away with, the burden of repayment will fall on all taxpayers, not just those who got their property improved in exchange for paying off the bonds with higher property taxes. The second reason is that the bond holders know that a sales tax is a much less stable source of revenue than property taxes. They may sue because the value of their bonds are now lower because of the difference in the tax repayment source that is backing them.
Regardless of how one feels about the use of TAD/TIF districts, the fact is that even if no more are ever created, the ones that now exist, well, do exist. Are we planning on giving hundreds of millions of tax dollar gifts to those whose property is located in those districts?
Kudos to Mike Ryan.
I have much more confidence in my local county government than I do in the legislature. Local government officials understand how local government works and what is important to the average citizien. Meanwhile most state reps and senators are working like crazy to do something relevant. There is no reason to send tax dollars intended for local government to State government. That’s nuts!
I had never thought about tax increment funding in the context of the Glenntax. Kudos to Aubie for a GREAT post!
At first I thought this was funny…then
I realized the awful truth of it. Please,
be sure to read all the way to the end!
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries, then
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know,
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers,
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin ,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid.
Put these words
upon his tomb,
” Taxes drove me to my doom…”
When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventor y Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle income group in the world, and Mom stayed home to
raise the kids.
What the hell happened?
Can you spell “politicians!”
And, on top of that, we have to “press 1″ for English!!!
GOPeach: huh? America’s middle class is the product of post WWII prosperity, and the New Deal, GI Bill, and a few other things that are paid for with taxes. Since that period of “prosperity” 100 years ago, we had a long period of depression, in fact a period so great they called it “The Great Depression.” 25% of our nation’s workers had no job. After we raised some taxes and instituted some programs (and went to war) is when we began our period of prosperity.
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