SWGA Politics

Once Unthinkable, State Legislators Now Poised to Raise Taxes

As recently as 6 weeks ago, Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives David Ralston was saying that there would be no talk of tax increases to balance the state budget.

Now, it appears he and other legislators may be ready to sing a new tune – though they are going to do their best to avoid the term “tax increase”.

I know I’ve already talked to a few legislators who have mentioned this issue to me, and their claim is that this will charge the user what it currently costs the state to do the service.

The problem is, a lot of these things the State charges user fees for aren’t really things government needs to be handling in the first place.

Among the fees that the AJC article linked above specifically mentions are professional licenses, hunting licenses, and fees on home mortgages. Why is the State in any of these businesses?

Another fee the article mentions is a fee (aka tax) on forested land that is charged to the Counties. There’s an easy way around a tax on forested land – cut down the forests. This means less green space in the County, but it also means more development, which means a higher overall local tax base, which benefits the locals but leaves the State high and dry. Is this really an activity the State seeks to encourage?

One fee is discussed in the article that actually does bear serious consideration in raising is ethics fees for politicians and candidates who are late filing required disclosure reports – as Ray McBerry recently was, when he filed his last disclosure three weeks late. Currently, the maximum fee is $75, no matter how late the report is. While I disagree with those saying people with ethics problems should not be allowed to run for office (I think the voters should decide that, not the State), I fully support increasing this fine varying degrees for various levels of office. Let’s make it something on the order of $250 per day after 7 days late for local office, $750 per day for General Assembly level, and $2,000 per day for Statewide office. Then, this fine begins to have teeth to it and may actually be paid attention to.

One last thing to remember here: There are 70 members of the General Assembly, mostly Republicans, who have signed Americans for Tax Reform‘s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” (aka, the “No Tax Pledge”).

This pledge states:

I, ____________, pledge to the taxpayers of the _____ District of the State of _________ and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.

Notice the words “any and all” in that pledge. These “fee” increases ARE tax increases, and thus any legislator who votes for any of these fee increases has violated his or her pledge here.

You can find the list of the signers here. (Page 2). Among them are some fairly influential names – Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, Speaker Ralston, House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin, Senate Appropriations Chairman Greg Goggans (who was quoted in the AJC article above), Senate President Pro-Tempore Tommie Williams, and others.

I’ve said it on twitter already, but I’ll close this post with my own pledge to these signers:

I will watch the votes on these tax increases, and I WILL name names of those who violate their pledge to not raise taxes.

You have been warned.