Democrats: Overhaul bill would raise income taxes for those who earn $20k to $180k
Updated at 5:07 p.m.: The joint House-Senate committee sent HB 387, a tax overhaul bill that expands the reach of the sales tax and cuts the personal income tax rate, to the House for the first of two all-or-nothing votes.
The House is to vote on the matter Wednesday. The Senate could vote as early as Friday.
Original: My AJC colleague Chris Joyner just scored some Democratic number-crunching on the impact of HB 387, the tax overhaul bill that would trade increased sales taxes for a 25 percent reduction in the personal income tax rate.
Despite that reduction, because deductions would be capped, 1.2 million individuals and couples in Georgia who earn between $20,000 and $180,000 a year – and file itemized deductions — would pay anywhere from $44 to $419 a year more in income taxes, according to figures provided to the party by the Georgia State University Fiscal Research Center.
Income brackets above $180,000 would pay fewer taxes, with $1,000-plus benefits to those earning above $300,000.
All Georgians who do not itemize their annual personal income tax returns would pay less.
We understand that Republicans in the Capitol have been running their own numbers, but so far they have not shared them.
The Democratic figures do not take into account other aspects of HB 387, including lower taxes on cable TV, a new sales tax on satellite TV, and a sales tax on car repairs.
The numbers were received just as a second meeting of the House-Senate tax committee began Tuesday afternoon.
House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal, R-Bonaire, a tax accountant, disputed the Democratic figures when they were brought up by state Sen. Steve Thompson, D-Powder Springs.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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61 comments Add your comment
republiCON-MEN
March 30th, 2011
1:02 am
These republicans are con-men, they don’t know the basic macro-economics or the difference between right and wrong. Shifting the tax burden to the Middle Class will NOT CREATE JOBS! NO, you cut the income tax rate to 4.5% for all, Implement a 0% tax on Private Corporations, and Flat 4.5% on publically traded corporations. Implement a Luxury Sur-Tax of 5% on all Luxury Cars, Private Jets, Luxury Homes 500K, Boats, Motorcycles, Motorhomes and Second Vacation Home. Ohh and re-implement the Capital Gaines State tax of 4.5% on the wealthy investors who don’t pay Any Income Taxes?
td's friend
March 30th, 2011
1:37 am
The State of Georgia thinks nothing of reneging on promises and plans made via the enactment of laws. I remember the battle to exempt groceried and prescriptions from sales tax. All the years we all patiently waited for it to phase in, and with a puff, the plan this year was to start taxing them again. The uproar must have stopped this dead, mid-stream.
I had looked forward to retiring, and staying here in Georgia, but all those promises by Deal to exempt more retirement income, actually enacted into law will also go up in smoke, if this horrible so called “jobs program/ tax reform plan (Ha!) goes into effect.
What a joke. It simplifies nothing. It is not a step towards moving to a consumption based tax system. PLEASE! It does successfully shift the tax burden to the middle class, and give greater tax breaks to high income earners. It does not really broaden the base though, unless increasing the cost of auto insurance, is now considered a consumer tax. This way the argument successfully made against ObamaCare . WHAT A LOSER!!! What a waste of political power.
Brenda
March 30th, 2011
6:56 am
Hey JIm…Do you have some inside dope on the suit by democratic leaders to hold the citizens of Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, John’s creek and Chatahoochee in involuntary servitude to their incompetent governance?
Willis
March 30th, 2011
8:05 am
The Republicans hate taxes so they raise taxes on the middle folk by calling it something else like, uh, “reform.” A pig remains a pig, no matter how it’s dressed. People are getting what they voted for.
I DIDN'T VOTE FOR THIS!!!!
March 30th, 2011
8:53 am
What the hell? Held my nose voting for these fools this time around and now it seems for good reason! Guessing $400-500 more for my wife and me next year just on income taxes, and not counting all the other crap taxes coming out. And doesn’t anyone remember how incredibly unpopular the personal car sale tax was under Zig-Zag Zell? You had to reduce your asking price as the buyers would take the bite! Hell, the damn thing is already taxed at the dealer, and every year after by the loathsome tag tax. What the *^^** is it going to take to get some damn true conservative representation of the people in the “state” house!!!!!!! FURIOUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
khc
March 30th, 2011
9:07 am
anyone believe larry o’neal of tax loophole for perdue fame?
Hazel
March 30th, 2011
9:18 am
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/who-doesnt-pay-taxes/
What percentage of Americans pays no federal taxes?
If you listen to talk radio, you may have heard the number 47 percent. That is the share of households that pay no net federal income taxes, once tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit are taken into account. This 47 percent number comes from the Tax Policy Center.
But once all federal taxes are considered — investment taxes, payroll taxes and others — the share drops sharply. Several tax experts I interviewed thought the number was around 10 percent and probably lower than that.
You can see this by looking at the Congressional Budget Office data on tax rates by income group. It shows that the total net federal tax rate for the poorest fifth of households — that is, those most likely to pay no federal taxes — was still positive. In 2006, the last year for which there is data, this rate was 4.3 percent. The average income-tax rate for this group was indeed below zero: -6.6 percent. But the combined rate of payroll, investment and excise taxes was 10.9 percent, leading to a net positive rate of 4.3 percent.
A positive federal tax rate for these poorest 20 percent of households suggests that fewer than half of them pay no federal taxes. That’s where the estimate in my column — that at most about 10 percent of all households pay no net federal taxes — comes from.
Robert
March 30th, 2011
9:37 am
It’s hell to be lied to and then deny you voted for them. snark
Last Man Standing
March 30th, 2011
9:49 am
Public Enemy Number One . . .
The enemy of the American people can easily be recognized. He or she is either democrat or republican, but democrats are the more dangerous of the species. He or she has been known to mingle with the masses when to do so is in their interest, but prefers the company of peers.
The enemy is elected politicians. It is the nature of our enemy to use our resources to further their own ends. They squander the fortune of our country and its’ citizens buying votes to increase their power. They will shamelessly break the promises made to the electorate to acquire power and often punish the very people who elected them with punitive taxation.
The majority of Americans are complacent and accept the ill treatment of the Enemy. A very large segment of the population vote for a living. Their votes are bought and paid for using the money of productive citizens. This form of vote-buying did not result as an accident, but was planned and put in place by the Enemy.
Despite our best efforts to elect honest and capable people, we always end up with the Enemy in office. This is an enemy who treats us with careless disdain ang goes about his/her business of increasing their power and their fortune.
Understanding the problem provides no resolution. Identifying the Enemy doesn’t correct the problem. Only when honest and capable people see serving as elected officials as a public service to their fellow citizens can the Enemy be defeated. Even so, the Enemy will still exist and still struggle to control the masses in a quest for power and wealth.
Tolliver
March 30th, 2011
9:52 am
Sounds like this would be good for me. However, sales tax on Auto Repairs would be Very Burdensome. Why not increase sales tax on alcohol and cigarettes instead? Maybe then I could afford milk and some other cut of beef besides ground.
Concerned
March 31st, 2011
11:25 am
Trying to change many aspects of the tax code is full of uncertainty. The sponsors of the bill will be surprised at the unintended consequences. These changes will not spur growth but will make many people angry.