Taxing Everything but the Air You Breathe

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January 28, 2011
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. This year, we are reaping what the General Assembly sowed when they passed H.B. 1405 last year and I, guarantee, you will NOT like what’s it’s about to do.

H.B. 1405 was introduced March 16, 2010 and was a done deal by April 20th. That’s fast, especially, for a bill that had a committee substitute and a floor amendment before it went to the Senate. H.B. 1405 implemented a method to change Georgia’s tax structure without a lot of debate and this was the plan.

Create an eleven-member Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians. Then, appoint the people you want on it – the governor, chairman of the 2010 Georgia Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the 2010 Georgia National Federation of Independent Business, plus four cherry-picked college professors. Then, let the lieutenant governor and Speaker appoint two members each from the business community. Interestingly, the governor was the only elected official on the Council and, since he’s no longer governor, NO one on the Council is elected, meaning no member answers to voters.

The Council was created to recommend changes to the tax structure and raise the tax base. But, H.B. 1405 went farther than that. It created a 12-member Special Joint Committee on Georgia Revenue Structure and specified the twelve legislators who would serve on it – six senators and six representatives, primarily House and Senate leaders. Their job is to review the Council’s recommendations, which were published January 7, 2011, make a few minor cosmetic changes, if absolutely necessary, and draft legislation to set up a new tax plan. But here’s the problem.

Rules in the House and Senate require every bill to be put in a standing committee according to its subject, for a thorough discussion before the members decide whether to pass it or kill it. If it passes the first committee, it goes into the Rules Committee whose members decide whether it goes to the floor for a vote.

That’s the NORMAL process in both House and Senate, but this is OUTSIDE the NORM. Bills recommended by the Council will be handled ONLY by the Joint Committee of 12 specified legislators, who will decide whether it goes straight to the House floor for an up-or-down vote. If the Council bills pass the House, they go straight to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. No debate, no amendments, no public hearings, just up-or-down votes.

Tune in again next Friday to learn about that new category – service taxes you’ve never had to pay in Georgia. If the Council’s proposals pass, we’ll be stuck for years to come with exorbitant oppressive NEW taxes on all the services we use! As yet, there’s no new tax legislation, but now’s the time to tell your state senator and representative what you think about higher taxes. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.