Georgia Senate passes jobs tax breaks
The Georgia Senate approved a Republican plan to give tax breaks to businesses that hire the unemployed.
House Bill 481, which has already passed the House, would give businesses $2,400 tax credits if they hire the unemployed and keep them on the job. It also gives unemployment tax breaks to companies that hire the unemployed.
In addition, the bill would gradually phase out corporate income taxes for Georgia-based companies.
The bill passed the Senate 43-7 on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), said the plan would help create jobs.
However, Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), said it would result in a $600 million loss in state revenue.
“We’re in a budget climate where we are slashing and burning … this is fiscally unsound policy,” Orrock said. “It is irresponsible of us.”
Orrock said each job the bill would create would cost the state $265,000 in tax cuts. “It doesn’t pass the smell test,” she said. “We’re digging the budget hole deeper by passing bills like this.”
But Rogers called Orrock’s figures, which she got from the Atlanta-based Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, “absurd.”
“This does the most important thing we can do up here, and that’s help Georgians gets jobs,” Rogers said. “The recovery starts in Georgia.”
The House passed a version of the bill that didn’t include the corporate income tax break, so it will have to go back to that chamber for its consideration.
Earlier Wednesday, the House killed a bill to double the state homestead exemption.
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© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10 comments Add your comment
Bob
March 25th, 2009
1:28 pm
This will make GA more competitive getting businesses to build here as it lowers their cost of doing business. It’s seems like a good idea.
Now I’m sure my state income tax is going to increase to make up for the loss of revenue.
Bob
March 25th, 2009
1:30 pm
Abondon the income tax and raise the sales tax. Stop hurting us by doing both so we can only deduct one on our federal taxes. I pay an extra $1,000+ in income taxes to the federal government each year that would otherwise be exempted.
Tony Kiene
March 25th, 2009
4:16 pm
I am a CPA and I tell you this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard come out of the sessions. Georgia is already on the verge of financial collapse and they propose to cut a MAJOR source of funding? What idiots!
What will now happen is that personal income taxes, sales taxes on individuals, etc. will go up proportinately to cover the huge deficit created by this bill.
Good God, this is what happens when you have lawyers trying to set fiscal policy.
Tony Kiene
March 25th, 2009
4:18 pm
Comment to Bob above.
This will make businesse run from Georgia because now there will not be a workforce here. why? Because the individual state income tax will go up NOBODY will want to live here.
Bob
March 25th, 2009
5:19 pm
With an unemployment level so high businesses will see that it is easy to hire here and more profitable for the companies.
Anytime anyone lowers taxes I’m going to applaud. Now they need to lower spending and end the income tax as well.
Tony if you’re a CPA then you’re well aware what an impact taxes have on the bottom line. Besides the government can just run their general fund into the negative. Who is to tell them otherwise? : o ( for expanding the debt service funds.
David
March 25th, 2009
8:11 pm
This is just more typical dumb republican politics–
My business will not be hiring anyone until we get more work…
A $2,400 tax break to hire someone at a salary of between $40K nad $100K?– not until we have the work to justify it…
JSR
March 25th, 2009
10:00 pm
What this story doesn’t tell you is that the $2,400 tax credit is only applicable if you hire someone who is has been unemployed for at least 6 months and then you have to retain that employee for at least 2 years. Will it inspire any hiring? Absolutely not. As a small business owner, I am not about to let the State of GA tell me who I have to hire and how long I have to keep them just so that I can get at $2,400 tax credit. Trust me, it will cost me a lot more in salary, benefits, social security and medicare than $2,400 to hire an employee I don’t need. This is a meaningless piece of legislation and the authors are fully aware of that. It will not cost the State a whole heck of tax revenue because no employer will hire an employee based solely on this gem. It’s purpose is to grab a headline and make a legislator sound important and meaningful. LOL….
Mark Anthony
April 1st, 2009
11:44 am
Meaningless posturing by the republicans. They ignore the math and go for the message. Except it is only meaningless in terms of its intention. It won’t affect hiring at all. What is meaningful is that it will lower the state’s income at a time when it can’t afford it.
NARDINE CANTRELL
April 1st, 2009
12:39 pm
WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY THE REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO COME UP WITH THE SAME NONSENSE THAT THEY KNOW WILL NOT BENEFIT THE CITIZENS OF GA.? NOW THEY WILL GIVE BUSINESS A TAX BREAK , BUT WILL NOT GIVE THE PEOPLE A BREAK FOR CAR AND TAG TAXES!!!!!! I DON’T UNDERSTAND? WHY ARE WE STILL PAYING TAXES FOR OUR CARS AND TAGS?
Tonto
April 1st, 2009
12:45 pm
HB 481 – Jobs, Opportunity, and Business Success Act of 2009 is nothing but another Republican give away. The way I read this bill, a business can layoff their present workers and replace them off of the state unemployment list and receive $2400 per employee in two years without increasing the number of employees. They also reduce their payment into the unemployment fund by $25-$125 per quarter per employee. Why wouldn’t a business layoff their present janitor and replace him with an unemployed worker and pocket the money? This bill is especially bad for unskilled workers like cashiers and service people who can be easily replaced by the unemployed. Is this a payoff to Kia, too? If Kia delays hiring their auto workers until this summer when the bill is effective, they could receive millions of additional dollars to send back to South Korea that Georgia taxpayers would have to replace. It seems that this will be bad for hiring now because businesses will hold off hiring until the bill is effective and bad for those that have a job now that will be laid off when the bill becomes effective.