Lawmakers consider paring tax credits and exemptions to offset income tax cuts

A state legislative committee is eyeing cutbacks in billion worth of tax credits and tax exemptions to offset the expected elimination of an income tax that generates billion for state governing body It is not a question of if we go to zero it s when and how we take our income tax to zero revealed Sen Blake Tillery R-Vidalia leader of the Special Committee on Eliminating Georgia s Income Tax It s an issue of competitiveness Senators heard Monday from three invited speakers who advocated for eliminating the income tax Patrice Onwuka director of the Independent Women s Center for Economic Opportunity revealed half of the state s residents live paycheck to paycheck and could use a tax break Arthur Laffer described consequences for population productivity and tax revenue in states that adopted an income tax and he pointed to gains in states that eliminated their income tax including his home state of Tennessee He reported it s really cool not having to file an income tax return and that it is a form of taxation that undermines economies The income tax is the single biggest major tax killer of expansion disclosed Laffer a retired professor who advised President Ronald Reagan on economic plan and is associated with supply-side economics theory Sen Nan Orrock D-Atlanta noted that Georgia already has a thriving business sector and that a great number of of the states that eliminated their income tax subsequently raised their sales tax rate Economists have long held that a sales tax is more painful for low-income people than an income tax and Orrock announced retirees would be among those disproportionately affected But Tillery who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and is running for lieutenant governor had delivered to the other senators more than pages of documents detailing billion in tax credits and tax exemptions in Georgia law He mentioned those could be eliminated to make up revenue lost by eliminating the income tax instead of raising the sales tax rate The final speaker Kyle Wingfield president and CEO of the fiscally conservative Georgia Community Agenda Foundation offered two guidelines approaches to accompany income tax cuts First Georgia could place selected of its billions in reserves into an urgency fund to hedge against unexpected budget shortfalls Second lawmakers could set revenue triggers that would only allow income tax cuts if overall tax revenue grew The post Lawmakers consider paring tax credits and exemptions to offset income tax cuts appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta