Citations

Between Gov. Brian P. Kemp’s first full fiscal year (FY) budget as governor and his eighth and final budget for FY 2027, state spending has increased by nearly $11 billion to $38.5 billion. Governor Kemp’s AFY 2026 and FY 2027 budget proposals recognize that Georgia can use its historic level of resources to fill long-awaited […]

Eliminating Georgia’s income tax would represent the largest transfer of wealth from working and middle-class families to high income individuals and corporations in state history. Doing so would dramatically push Georgia’s budget out of balance, given that the income tax has been the state’s single largest source of revenue since 1982. Read more.

In H.R. 1, the federal reconciliation bill, the federal government shirks its responsibility to Georgians, leaving the state to continue to support Georgians with fewer resources.

Overall, the budget reconciliation legislation would reduce federal taxes for Georgians by $16.6 billion annually. However, 69% of these savings ($11.5 billion) are directed to the highest-earning 20% of Georgia households, or those making over $153,100 per year.

Excessive local government reliance on fines and fees is tied to persistent barriers to economic security. Policies that lift these barriers could open gateways for more Georgians to achieve workforce mobility free from criminal legal system entanglement. Read more.

House Bill 1437, signed into law by Gov. Kemp after a final version emerged during the last hours of Sine Die 2022, sets Georgia on course to make fundamental changes to its income tax that primarily benefit the state’s highest earners at an annual cost greater than $2 billion when fully implemented. Beyond adding to […]

Members of the Georgia General Assembly are considering legislation that would fundamentally change the structure of the tax code and result in disproportionately large tax cuts for the wealthiest while hundreds of thousands of families would see tax increases or few benefits. This is due to the package’s proposed flat personal income tax rate and […]

Today, state and local taxes consume a greater share of income earned by Georgians in poverty—who are more likely to be people of color—while the richest pay a far lower share of their income in taxes. As such, Georgians who are among the bottom 20 percent of income earners, those who make less than $20,000 […]

In addition to eroding the corporate income tax base and harming the state budget, in many cases, the state’s tax credit programs represent the transfer of Georgia taxpayer dollars to large out-of-state corporations and top income earners. Granting funds to corporations in this manner leaves less funding for schools, job training and health care programs […]

Southern states have a particularly egregious record on tax equity, rooted partly in racism. Lawmakers baked some of the most egregious and anti-democratic tax policies into southern state constitutions, such as supermajority requirements to raise taxes in Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, income tax rate caps in North Carolina and Georgia, and the recent elimination of […]

Immigrants represent one in 10 Georgians and are critical to Georgia’s economy, with 31 percent of main street businesses owned by foreign-born Georgians and undocumented Georgians contributing $352 million in state and local taxes in 2017. Immigrants are key leaders in our communities and contribute to the state’s cultural and linguistic diversity. During this public […]

Twelve days into the 2020 session of the Georgia General Assembly, legislators voted to take a week-long break from regular business to allow extra time for deliberations over Georgia’s fiscal priorities and annual appropriations bills. State leaders continue to express concerns over Gov. Kemp’s executive budget proposals, which include the first mandatory agency budget cuts […]

This report offers the first comprehensive look at how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), in combination with Georgia’s enacted response, will impact the state budget and families at every level of income from 2020–2025. In partnership with Step Up Savannah and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a case […]