Another Southern state not named Georgia looks to ditch the income tax
Another day, another Republican governor making a bold proposal on an issue Georgia lawmakers have been wrestling with. From the Times-Picayune in New Orleans:
Gov. Bobby Jindal is proposing to eliminate Louisiana’s income and corporate taxes and pay for those cuts with increased sales taxes, the governor’s office confirmed Thursday. The governor’s office has not yet provided the details of the plan.
“The bottom line is that for too long, Louisiana’s workers and small businesses have suffered from having a state tax structure that is too complex and that holds back economic prosperity,” Jindal said in a statement released by his office. “It’s time to change that so people can keep more of their own money and foster an environment where businesses want to invest and create good-paying jobs.”
Jindal said the plan would be revenue-neutral and that the goal would be to keep sales taxes “as low and flat as possible.”
Another Louisiana newspaper, the Monroe News-Star, reports the state’s sales tax could rise as high as 7 percent from its current level of 4 percent. Louisiana has three income-tax brackets, with married couples paying 2 percent on income up to $25,000, 4 percent between $25,000 and $100,000, and 6 percent on income above that.
Georgia — where couples pay 6 percent on any income above just $10,000 — has taken tentative steps down this road before, although never to the point of eliminating the income tax completely. Former Speaker Glenn Richardson in 2007 proposed repealing all ad valorem taxes and broadening the sales tax to cover goods and services (the latter are not taxed today) at the 4 percent rate — his so-called GREAT Plan. But that only included lowering the top income-tax rate from 6 percent to 4 percent, not zero. More recently, a commission appointed in 2010 to study comprehensive tax reform came back with a plan to lower the income-tax rate to no higher than 4 percent and as low as 3 percent, which probably would be low enough to boost Georgia’s competitiveness while keeping our tax base diversified (income, sales, property, etc.).
As you may recall, the latter plan was stalled in the Legislature in 2011 and last year resulted in a tax bill that was advertised as “comprehensive” but in fact merely tweaked some corporate tax breaks and granted a number of long-time wishes of certain industries (e.g., auto dealers). I’ve heard no one suggest that tax reform will come anywhere near this year’s legislative session agenda.
Meanwhile, Louisiana is pressing forward in the direction taken by Florida, Tennessee and Texas — the kind of states with which Georgia competes for jobs and workers. In North Carolina, another of our peer states, new Gov. Pat McCrory has also pledged to pursue tax changes that include lower income-tax rates for individuals and businesses.
All of which would seem to leave Georgia falling behind.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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217 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 11th, 2013
3:10 pm
South Africa sics drones on rhino poachers
Oh yeah! That puts a dent in one underground market.
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:12 pm
“how many smart people are buying lumber?”
Wow, Finn. Just wow.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 11th, 2013
3:13 pm
Louisiana and Georgia have a lot in common
Both have allowed there school system to be taken over by the Charter School crowd.
This gives them control of the curriculum so they can slowly introduce Christianity in the classroom
All with your tax dollars.
Reality
January 11th, 2013
3:14 pm
Idiot con repubs love this idea. Why? As usual with con repubs ideas, it is because it penalizes the middle class and benefits the upper class. This is called regressive taxation – REGRESSIVE means to go backwards! Ergo: con repubs are backwards.
Removing State income tax sounds great to all, of course. But then….. the State replaces that revenue with an increase in sales tax. This means that the middle class and poor have to pay the exact same percent as the wealthy for the same item – and this is REGRESSIVE. Besides, the most wealthy would simply go to a different State for their purchases and the poor cannot and are stuck with the high sales tax. Sound fair to you?
Look at Florida as an example. They went to a no-state-income tax for a seemingly valid reason. That reason is because they have so much tourism, the increase in sales tax would largely come from out-of-state visitors instead of the citizens that live there. Sounds good, right? But the result of this is that the poorer and the middle class in Florida have suffered. They are also stuck with paying the higher sales tax, so it isn’t JUST the tourist. And, of course, the wealthy in South Beach, Key West, etc., simply jet to another State for their purchases, so it doesn’t bother them one bit.
At least Florida had a seemingly logical reason to try this. For Georgia to do it would be really really stupid. What this means is that Georgia will try it. Just like Georgia trys every stupid, failed policy there is.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 11th, 2013
3:14 pm
Our local county collected $129 million in school property tax dollars in FY 2010-2011.
Spent $186 million on teacher salaries.
Received the difference in state dollars.
County taxes still provide the majority of teacher salaries, at least in our county.
JamVet
January 11th, 2013
3:14 pm
OK, right after you explain to me how saying their data is suspect is slandering them.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 11th, 2013
3:17 pm
“And, of course, the wealthy in South Beach, Key West, etc., simply jet to another State for their purchases, so it doesn’t bother them one bit.”
Let’s see . . .
In Reality’s world, rich people fuel up their private jet and head off to other places to buy their food, clothing, cars, homes, and each and every day-to-day essential they use.
Just to avoid paying taxes.
‘Cause that makes so much sense.
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:20 pm
JamVet @ 3:14: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Let’s review what happened here: I posted a link to a think tank’s index of state corporate tax laws. You respond by saying not to trust anything from that think tank because once upon a time a Koch Industries guy was on its board. I criticized you for calling the index untrustworthy with no other basis than the associations of some of its past board members, and challenged you to give us criticisms of the index itself. To which you responded with this nonsense.
Not that I expected anything more.
And fwiw, the reason I’m “touchy” about this has nothing to do with this particular index, the Tax Foundation, or the Koch brothers. It’s the reprehensible habit of too many people in this country — and I certainly won’t say they all have the same political leaning — to resort to this kind of childishness when discussing substantive issues. I’m offering you the opportunity to prove you are capable of something more than that. But I’m not holding my breath.
teacher
January 11th, 2013
3:22 pm
tib,
the money that is collected on your property tax goes to up keep. buildings, buses, school supplies 90 % of salaries come from the state.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 11th, 2013
3:25 pm
The Tax Foundation is just a Koch brother organization
Not to be trusted at all.
They are just arguing for what serves their best interest and makes them wealthier
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 11th, 2013
3:26 pm
Not using our local spreadsheet, teacher.
Also remember that state money funds the administration portion of local school systems (not just teachers), which positions are mandated by the state.
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:26 pm
Tiberius @ 3:14: Your system received about $122.5M in state funding that year, $116.6M of which was tabbed for “direct instructional costs,” i.e. teachers. If you think I have it wrong, check here.
Money is fungible, so I guess you can say your county funded the majority of teacher salaries if you want. But, generally speaking wrt education funding, the state dollars are considered to go toward teacher salaries and local funds supplement those salaries and pay for most everything else (facilities, administration, transportation, etc.).
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:27 pm
Cheesy @ 3:13: How many schools are there in Georgia? And how many of them are charter schools.
Even Krugman usually doesn’t flat-out make up his facts.
teacher
January 11th, 2013
3:27 pm
tib,
henry co.
income:
90 mil comes from local
188 mil from state
expenses
instruction(salaries 207 mil) state $$$
the rest is 75 mil local $$$
http://schoolwires.henry.k12.ga.us/cms/lib/GA01000549/Centricity/Domain/42/FY13%20Approved%20Budget.pdf
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 11th, 2013
3:28 pm
Just to avoid paying taxes.
‘Cause that makes so much sense.
Mitt Romney would
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:29 pm
Right on cue, and as per usual, Cheesy provides another example of what I was talking about @ 3:20.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 11th, 2013
3:29 pm
calling the index untrustworthy with no other basis than the associations of some of its past board members
And the mafia once employed a guy named Al Capone. But those days are over….
The Catholic church once employed Grand Inquisitors looking for people to burn alive…..but those days are over.
Reality Check
January 11th, 2013
3:29 pm
That would be the biggest economic development plan the state has even seen. Unfortunately we don’t have bold enough leaders to do it.
The house leadership lacks true conservatives and Cagle would never do it. The best chance we had was when the Senate’s conservatives were in power. No one wants to try anything this big. It’s quite a shame.
Shafer won’t do it because it’s too big of a risk.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 11th, 2013
3:31 pm
Cheesy @ 3:13: How many schools are there in Georgia? And how many of them are charter schools.
Don’t know. Enlighten me
But when you see the nutty stuff they are teaching in LA charter schools
Well….it doesn’t take a genius to figure out we are next.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 11th, 2013
3:32 pm
The Republican Party was once composed of people who thought women’s bodies could shut down that whole childbirth thing during rape….but those days are over.
Sign me up!
JamVet
January 11th, 2013
3:34 pm
Wow, Kyle meltdown.
Cool.
I criticized you for calling the index untrustworthy…
No you said I slandered them.
Which is a……………………….. prevarication.
slander -noun
1. defamation; calumny: rumors full of slander.
2. a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report
Keep dancing…
But the funniest part of this?
You even botched your own link. What “low corporate taxation”? In its latest State Business Tax Climate Index, the Tax Foundation rates Georgia 34th. In point of fact, the report you cite lists Georgia as number 9 – not number 34 – in it’s corporate tax rank.
And yes, I have data that shows their stats are sometimes skewed and that they themselves have changed them to accommodate critiques from others.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 11th, 2013
3:35 pm
This gives them control of the curriculum so they can slowly introduce Christianity in the classroom
cheesy – Long before you had your first faulty thought, public schools would start the days classes by saying a prayer.
And we were a much better nation in those days.
Centrist
January 11th, 2013
3:35 pm
Kyle,
I don’t see much “sport” in challenging partisan, knee-jerk posters who make silly statements that can’t be backed up with facts. I see the known screen names and skip further down to read (hopefully) some lucid comments. There are some here.
teacher
January 11th, 2013
3:38 pm
there is a teacher salary scale for the state of GA provided by state funds. you can make more money by going to “richer” counties because they will add a local supplement (extra pay provided with local $$$$$) that is why you can make more money working in Atlanta. it would be impossible for small rural counties to pay 200 teachers 40k year out of local dollars…that is why it is like 90 % from the state and 10% from local dollars
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 11th, 2013
3:39 pm
And we were a much better nation in those days.
That’s a belief that separates youses from uses. We think we are headed in the right direction while you folks pine for the 1950’s. The days of no gay marriage, illegal weed, human telephone operators, and outhouses is long gone, my friend.
josef
January 11th, 2013
3:41 pm
Cheesy
What is the nutty stuff being taught in LA’s charter schools…enlighten us with cites for the curricula…
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:42 pm
“Don’t know. Enlighten me”
There are more than 2,000 schools in Georgia. There are fewer than 150 charter schools, and the vast majority of them are run by the same school boards that run traditional public schools. But they’re “taking over”!
Riiiiight. You know, Cheesy, for someone who supposedly is so concerned about the veracity of what kids are taught in school, you sure do have a tendency to post comments about a topic without any semblance of a knowledge of the facts.
josef
January 11th, 2013
3:42 pm
CHEESY
What is your opinion of Michelle Rhee?
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:45 pm
JamVet @ 3:34: Go ahead. Get caught up on the semantics of what I said you did. Gives you a good smokescreen for dodging the real issue.
And no, I didn’t botch my own link. You are talking about one component of the overall business tax climate. Or do you think the corporate income tax is the only factor in “corporate taxation”?
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:46 pm
Centrist @ 3:35: Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who will believe those silly statements unless I demonstrate how ridiculously fact-free they are.
Gimme Gimme Gimme
January 11th, 2013
3:47 pm
Finn – To boil these plans down, the goal is to shift the tax burden off of the high-end earners and on to the middle and lower classes. Wake up, people.
A guy making $100,000 a year pays the exact same price for a Big mac as the guy making $20,000 a year. And both of them can – logically – not consume more than 1 per meal. So, they, in effect, are paying equal total taxes.
The wealthy can’t spend enough in consumption to make up for the difference in the tax revenue that would be lost through ditching income taxes
___________________________________________________________
That has to be one one of the most brain dead post’s I have ever seen.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 11th, 2013
3:48 pm
finn – You wouldn’t know dignity and respect if you fell over them. This is the most shallow, self indulged generation in all the history of the world. For you to be proud of it means that you only lack the awareness of how hollow and debased you are.
Just saying.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 11th, 2013
3:48 pm
“We think we are headed in the right direction”
Insolvency is the right direction, Finn?
“while you folks pine for the 1950’s”
An expanding economy, low deficits, less crime, and the U.S. respected around the world? Yeah, I’d take that in a second, Finn.
Centrist
January 11th, 2013
3:49 pm
Could it be that Kyle is actually using the “Cheesy”, “JDW” and other pseudonyms with non-factual posts so that he can thoroughly correct them to make his points? If so, the gambit is working perfectly.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 11th, 2013
3:50 pm
The Republican Party was once composed of people who thought women’s bodies could shut down that whole childbirth thing during rape….but those days are over.
“It’s becoming more and more important, in terms of what studies we do, to focus our efforts on the physiological effects of stress and how they may play a role in conception,” says Margareta D. Pisarska, MD, co-director of Center for Reproductive Medicine at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and editor-in-chief of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine News.
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:51 pm
Centrist @ 3:49: I’m not that industrious.
indigo
January 11th, 2013
3:51 pm
Aesop – 3:35
That’s true.
However they did NOT teach the following:
1. The Earth is flat and 6,000 years old.
2. The Earth is the center of the Universe.
3. Humans are God’s ultimate creation.
4. Evolution and Astromony are tools of the devil from the pits of hell.
5. And anyway, we’re all just strangers here – heaven is our home.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 11th, 2013
3:51 pm
This is the most shallow, self indulged generation in all the history of the world.
Just like the one before it was the most in all history…and the one before that was the most in all history….and the one before that….
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 11th, 2013
3:52 pm
Krugman stopped being an economist and started being a Democrat political hack long ago.
BW
January 11th, 2013
3:52 pm
Kyle
Just a simple question: Will the move to sales tax be designed to be revenue neutral? I can’t answer your question about whether or not it would be a good idea without that information. If it’s going to be revenue neutral then I say no simply because the budget is barebones now and can’t fund our growing social (mainly medical for the poor) and infrastructure needs. The people and state need to have a come to Jesus meeting of what they want the state to fund through taxes and how to allocate it.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 11th, 2013
3:52 pm
cheesy – Long before you had your first faulty thought, public schools would start the days classes by saying a prayer.
What does your religion have to do with me ?
Riiiiight. You know, Cheesy, for someone who supposedly is so concerned about the veracity of what kids are taught in school, you sure do have a tendency to post comments about a topic without any semblance of a knowledge of the facts.
Here is a fact. Christianity is taught in LA public schools using tax dollars.
“God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ.”—America: Land That I Love, Teacher ed., A Beka Book, 1994…
That is taught in LA charter schools
Soon to come to Georgia.
With your tax dollars.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 11th, 2013
3:53 pm
Insolvent? The US?
Pahleasssse. Crack an economics book once every 50 years, dude.
JamVet
January 11th, 2013
3:54 pm
Get caught up on the semantics…
Yeah, I’m kinda funny that way, Kyle. Always have been.
When people show no basic respect for the language, make up their own definitions and after getting called on it don’t own up to it, I do tend to point that out.
One more time so as to be perfectly clear – saying what i wrote was slander was absurdly false.
But hey! It’s your little fiefdom here, so you can engage in all the Republispeak you want.
Caution: the Tax Foundation’s State and Local Tax Rankings are Unreliable
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=574
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 11th, 2013
3:54 pm
My Charter school teaches that Man created god, not the other way around.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 11th, 2013
3:56 pm
An expanding economy, low deficits, less crime, and the U.S. respected around the world? Yeah, I’d take that in a second, Finn.
And the black man and minorities and women knew their place !!!!
Also top tax rates in the 50’s were around 91 percent.
Centrist
January 11th, 2013
3:56 pm
Kyle,
Nice to have such easily conquered foils – no need to be industrious; they lay it all out on a plate for you.
Kyle Wingfield
January 11th, 2013
3:57 pm
BW @ 3:52: Jindal’s office has not yet (to my knowledge) released those kinds of details about the plan.
josef
January 11th, 2013
3:57 pm
CHEESY
“God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ.”—America: Land That I Love, Teacher ed., A Beka Book, 1994…
Interesting you should bring that in…would you tell me which school(s) and where?
The reason I ask, is that as we post, on the other screen I am at work on a curriculum focused on the Southeastern Indian heritage for a Louisiana Charter School…and that is NOT what is going into it.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 11th, 2013
3:57 pm
“When people show no basic respect for the language, make up their own definitions and after getting called on it don’t own up to it, I do tend to point that out.”
You point out your own posts, AmVet?
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 11th, 2013
3:59 pm
Could it be that Kyle is actually using the “Cheesy”, “JDW” and other pseudonyms with non-factual posts so that he can thoroughly correct them to make his points? If so, the gambit is working perfectly.
I can confirm that I am not Kyle
Im sure Kyle would confirm he isn’t me. ( He has )
Is that you John Wayne…..Is this me…..