Budget Hikes Taxes on Low-Income Families to Pay for High-End Capital Gains Cuts
reportOn Friday, April 3, the Georgia General Assembly passed a budget for fiscal year 2010 that includes a major new tax cut (an exclusion for long-term capital gains income) and a substantial tax increase (eliminating a state-funded property tax relief program). A new analysis by the Washington, DC-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the net impact of these two provisions will likely be a substantial tax increase on most low- and middleincome Georgians, and a very large tax cut for a small group of the very wealthiest Georgia taxpayers. Governor Sonny Perdue has not yet signed these tax changes into law, and has indicated he might veto the capital gains cut. As ITEP director Matthew Gardner noted, “Governor Perdue has an opportunity to prevent Georgia lawmakers from making middle-income homeowners foot the bill for an unneeded tax break for the investor class.”