Georgia House lawmakers have replaced the governor’s proposed income tax rebate with a one-time tax break for homeowners. The change was included in the chamber’s version of this year’s revised budget, which overwhelmingly cleared the House with a 167-to-5 vote Thursday. The $42.3 billion spending plan now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers will want […]
Rep. Matt Hatchett, a Dublin Republican and the House’s top budget writer, presents the revised spending plan for the current budget year, which ends this June. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Georgia House lawmakers have replaced the governor’s proposed income tax rebate with a one-time tax break for homeowners.
The change was included in the chamber’s version of this year’s revised budget, which overwhelmingly cleared the House with a 167-to-5 vote Thursday. The $42.3 billion spending plan now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers will want to leave their own mark on the budget.
Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled his final spending plans last month, which included about $1.2 billion to send taxpayers another round of rebates this year. As in the past, the payment would be $250 for individuals, $375 for head of household and $500 for married couples filing jointly.
Instead, the House plan would set aside about $850 million for a homeowner tax relief grant program that would give back, on average, $500. That grant program is part of the Republican House leadership’s property tax plan announced last week that calls for the complete elimination of local taxes for homeowners, which is a major source of revenue for cities, counties and schools.
“This grant will reduce next year’s tax bills for homeowners, and we will continue to work to eliminate property taxes on your home,” Rep. Matt Hatchett, a Dublin Republican and the House’s top budget writer, told his colleagues Thursday.
The governor’s office sounded open to the discussion.
“While it is our office’s practice not to comment on proposed or pending legislation out of respect for the legislative process, the Governor looks forward to working alongside legislative leaders to deliver meaningful tax relief for all Georgians,” Kemp spokesperson Carter Chapman said in a statement.
The governor determines the size of the budget, which means lawmakers cannot add more spending. But they can move money around within the budget to fit their own priorities.
When asked by reporters about the proposed switch to property tax grants, Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte reserved judgment. But he did use the opportunity to plug one of the Senate GOP’s priorities: income tax elimination. He said a proposal would be filed “in the days to come.”
Kemp has proposed moving more cautiously toward shrinking the state’s income tax. His budget proposal left room for the state to accelerate an already planned reduction that would bring Georgia’s rate to 4.99%, down from today’s 5.19%. A bill that would do so was filed last month.
But Anavitarte argued that a recently passed Senate property tax proposal is the better strategy for helping homeowners. That measure, which passed Tuesday, would prevent local governments and school districts from opting out of a statewide homestead tax exemption that caps annual property tax increases.
“I think ours is the clearest to sell, is the most understandable and it directly provides relief more immediately than I think some of the other proposals going on around the building,” he said. “And I think Georgia citizens want us to act very quickly.”
Most House Democrats supported the revised budget Thursday, but House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley said Thursday that the caucus is still evaluating the GOP’s broader property tax plan. Support of Democrats will be necessary to get the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass a proposed constitutional amendment.
“Right now, the House is saying property tax relief, the Senate is saying income tax relief. We’ve got to wait to see what comes back and see what direction we’re going to go in,” Hugley told reporters. “I think that this measure is so important that we cannot be hasty and we cannot yield to whatever the politics of the day are, because behind those proposals are individual families and communities, schools, cities and counties that are looking to us to take care of.”
The Columbus Democrat praised a “bright spot” in the budget: The House has fully covered the $85 million budget shortfall at the Division of Family and Children Services at the Department of Human Services. About $1.6 million was specifically dedicated to restoring canceled contracts for supportive services and to place foster youth closer to their biological families.
“Our budget fully funds the deficit in DFCS, and we reinstate foster care supportive service contracts,” Hatchett said to applause.
The current budget year wraps up at the end of June.
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