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Georgia Budget and Policy Institute
03/05/2008 05:31 PM
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News Release - Defeat of Tax Plan Saves GA from Potential Fiscal Crisis
Georgia Budget and Policy Institute
For Immediate Release
March 5, 2008
Contact: Alan Essig, Executive Director
404-420-1324, Ext. 101
770-402-4630 (Cell)
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Defeat of Speaker's Tax Plan Saves Georgia from Potential Fiscal Crisis
Click here to view the SR 796 Overview
Click here to view the new SR 796 fact sheet (#1)
Click here to view the new SR 796 fact sheet (#2)
ATLANTA - Speaker Richardson's latest tax reform proposal, SR 796, was defeated
on the floor of the Georgia House today by a vote of 110 to 62. As a
Constitutional Amendment, the measure needed 120 votes to pass.
"A courageous group of legislators recognized the importance of fiscally
responsible tax reform," said Alan Essig, the Executive Director of the Georgia
Budget and Policy Institute. "And, with their "no" votes, averted a potential
financial disaster for the State of Georgia."
Passage of SR 796 by the legislature and then the voters would have created a
$672 million hole in the state budget in FY 2011. That amount is the
equivalent of:
100 percent of the PeachCare budget and 27 percent of the Medicaid budget; or
8 percent of K-12 education; or
29 percent of the Board of Regents budget; or
56 percent of the Department of Corrections budget.
Considering that revenues are expected to slow due to the current economic
slowdown, the budget impact would have been even greater. In that 75 percent
of the state budget pays for education, healthcare, and criminal justice, it
would be impossible to balance the state budget without some combination of
deep cuts to those services.
Analysis of the tax proposal is available on GBPI's website, www.gbpi.org
# # #
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute is the state's leading independent,
nonprofit, non-partisan organization engaged in research and education on the
fiscal and economic health of the state of Georgia. The Institute provides
reliable and timely analyses of Georgia's budget and tax policies and promotes
greater state government fiscal accountability, improved services and an
enhanced quality of life for all Georgians.
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