Organize the South

There chutzpah and then there's politician chutzpah. Rep. Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons) has gone beyond even politician chutzpah in his blathering support of Rep. Glenn Richardson's stupid idea to raise taxes (called the GREAT tax).

Keen is a ardent supporter of tax reform. Of course, when elected officials (especially ones who live in areas more than 90% white and with household incomes 25% than the rest of Georgia) talk about tax reform it's best to grab one's wallet and load the shotgun. Keen wants to eliminate the state personal income tax. Since the income tax is one of the fairest taxes available, ending it effectively shifts payment burden to lower income people. (You can learn more about taxes at www.nontrivialpursuits.org, but I recommend the printer friendly version since they don't know much about web design.) In short, Keen wants to make sure he and his rich neighbors hand their tax bill over to us. No thank you, Mr. Keen.

None of this, however, is an example of chutzpah. It's just an example of conservative politics. Keen's chutzpay is on display in an article on the 11alive website. Towards the end of the article Keen begins talking about why the idea should be on the ballot. He says:

"there is no more local control than having the local taxpayers and citizens be able to weigh in. And whether you agree or disagree with the plan, I cannot imagine an elected official at any level who would stand up and say, 'I don't want the citizens of my city and county to have the ability to vote and choose.'"

Why chutzpah? Because I remember 2005 when the same Rep. Keen told the people of Georgia to go jump in a lake. The issue then was the living wage bill and HB 59 which made it illegal for local governments to give contractual preferences to companies that pay living wages (i.e. not increase poverty). Rep. Keen voted for the bill. He apparently believed it better for the legislature to decide how local government should run and that local taxpayers and citizens should NOT to weigh in. Who else would know better about how Atlanta contracts should be given out then someone living in St. Simons?

Right now the only question is whether Keen is a liar or hypocrite. Rep. Keen please repeat this sentence: I don't want the citizens of my city and county to have the ability to vote and choose.

There is a story in The Anderson Independent Mail reporting on Rep. Jeanette Jamieson (D-Toccoa) misgivings about Rep. Glenn Richardson's dumb idea to raise taxes. The paper calls it the "fair tax proposal" which I guess is a good example of objectively reporting whatever someone says without checking up on it. That's a side issue though. What worries me is that Jamieson doesn't say she thinks the bills is stupid, she says it needs some tinkering. That could be legislator speak for, "I'm going to amend this to death." But that could also be, "I want to amend it so it doesn't screw my people." The language worries me. Anything short of an emphatic statement saying this is a stupid idea and should die a thousand deaths worries me.

I read about a poll on Richardson's plan to raise taxes on AJC Insider. 58% support for the plan seems low considering there are few details about it released. However, 29% also seems low to me. I would figure the undecideds wouldn't be so high, but this may also be related to the lack of information about this stupid idea.

What I found even more interesting though were the comments at AJC Insider. There seems to be one conversation about the tax plan and a separate one on immigration. What immigration has to do with the tax plan is unclear, but xenophobia is based on irrational fear.

The online version of the Athens Banner-Herald ran an editorial by Jim Thompson. In it, Thompson tells a little bit about Glen Richardson showing up to a meeting of school superintendents to talk about his dumb idea.

For those who don't know, Richardson is proposing to raise taxes by saying he'll lower taxes. Specifically, he wants to eliminate the ad valorem taxes and the income taxes and replace it with an extended sales tax. The result will be higher taxes on more goods and services because the taxes Richardson wants to end bring in more revenue than what he wants to replace them with. The only way to prevent a huge budget shortfall is to raise taxes. Most people understand this. Richardson doesn't.

The Thompson editorial doesn't go into detail about how Richardson's plan went over. I wish it did. Instead, Thompson tells us about a nasty realization. Richardson can destroy the state and there's not much those who don't live in his district can do about it. Aack! There's some truth in the editorial, but only some. We who don't live in Hiram don't get to vote out Richardson. We do get to make noise though (at least until Bush decides the 1st amendment is too inconvenient).

Here's an idea: Get involved. Here are some ideas.

Poor People's Day. The next planning meeting is November 8 at 12:30 at 9 Gammon Ave., Atlanta 30315. There's no website yet, but you can email me at organizerdan at gmail dot com.

Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. They have a great analysis of Richardson's dumb idea. Check it out.

Georgia Rural Urban Summit. Not a huge grassroots group, but the lobbying they do is great. Larry is a gifted political analyst. You can also find links to groups all over Georgia.

According to a local NPR report on PBA, Rep. Glenn Richardson is proposing to do away with income tax as well as property taxes. In previous posts, I've ranted about the stupid idea of getting rid of property taxes. It does away with local control and centralizes financial decisions in the legislature. Just as importantly, it leads to higher taxes since the sales tax has to be expanded. The taxes on the poor and working poor are particularly hard.

If the report is true, and Richardson is slowly losing his mind, Georgians have got to strike this stupidity. The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute has done some analysis on what's known so far. You can check out their website to find the schedule of forums for more information. You can also download fact sheets.

This is from OnlineAthens, the website of the Athens Banner-Herald. Looks like local officials are getting mobilized. I fear though the deal they cut still won't be good for us who actually pay the taxes. Citizen involvement in this is going to be crucial.

Cities group opposes sales tax plan

Urges lobbying against objective

If city officials were the only ones allowed to vote on Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson's tax reform plan, it surely would go down in flames.

But state lawmakers, and then voters, will decide whether to go along with the Hiram Republican's proposal to replace property taxes with more sales taxes.

That's why the Georgia Municipal Association came to the Athens-Clarke Library Thursday: to urge mayors, managers, school board members and councilmen from more than a dozen cities to lobby against the plan.

"This is the single biggest attack I've ever seen or heard of on local government," Decatur Mayor and GMA Vice President Bill Floyd said.

The organization, which represents more than 500 municipal governments, contends that Richardson's proposal will cripple the ability of local government and school districts to raise or lower taxes to reflect the needs of different communities.

Almost all of the more than 50 officials from more than a dozen cities who attended the meeting agreed, tossing around words like "socialism," "communism," "bureaucracy" and "pseudo-Republicans" for an hour and a half. They focused mostly on how they would be unable to respond to citizens' concerns about tax rates or the quality of services like streets and schools.

"We're the only county in Georgia with three independent school systems," Commerce City Councilman Bob Sosebee said. "We know it's the most expensive and inefficient way to do it, but that's how we want to do it. That's how the voters in Commerce, Jefferson, Braselton and Jackson County want to do it."

Only Carnesville Mayor Harris Little disagreed with the consensus. Little said he and his constituents would support the change if Carnesville was guaranteed the same amount of money it's spending now.

"As long as they turn the water on and water comes out, and they flush the toilet and waste goes away, I'm not sure they care," he said.

Athens-Clarke Mayor Heidi Davison quickly countered Little, drawing applause for saying she won't be satisfied with providing only basic services. Athenians demand amenities like parks and a revamped Baxter Street from elected leaders, she said.

"I don't want my citizens reduced to a medium level of service because you don't want to pay your property taxes," Davison said.

Richardson's plan would eliminate property taxes and replace them with new sales taxes on services like haircuts and lawn mowing, along with groceries and other goods that now are exempt. The state would collect the taxes, then distribute them to cities, counties and school districts based on their 2006 budgets and population growth. It would require approval from two-thirds of state representatives and senators and a majority of voters.

With powerful politicians like Gov. Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle also demanding tax reform, but raising questions about Richardson's plans, competing proposals could also be introduced to the General Assembly next year.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 091407

Click here to return to story:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/091407/news_20070914024.shtml

The AJC today is reporting that Gov Perdue and speaker Richardson sat down together. It wasn't a personal meeting, more of a Republican coffee klatch to talk about taxes. Perdue isn't endorsing Richardson's stupid idea to eliminate property, income and ad valoreum taxes. However, Perdue isn't saying he hates it either. Rather, in the political non-speak that is standard English for elected officials, he says he has strong doubts.

The governor wants another bad idea, to cut personal and corporate income taxes and to eliminate income taxes for some senior citizens. To be clear, he wants to give rich people and corporations a free ride. The senior citizen tax cut he proposed during his campaign applies to those making more than $120,000 per year. He gets credit for rejecting the property tax rebate, but not for silly pandering schemes.

At yesterday's Poor People's Day meeting, Peter Armstrong from the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute gave a short presentation on tax reform. Here's the deal. The Georgia budget is presently $20 billion. Richardson's proposal would cut the budget by $8 billion. Now, if the Georgia budget was $8 billion too big, this would be fine. But right now Georgia isn't doing near enough of what it needs to do (i.e. Grady, MARTA, water, my road, etc.). Richardson proposes a state sales tax to make up the difference. Trouble is sales taxes hit workers a lot harder than they do rich folk. Right off the bat, anyone not a CEO or rich lawyer is going to get smacked. Worse, Richardson will have to raise the sales tax. Armstrong estimates sales taxes would have to be raised by 5% to make up the difference. Richardson will also have to the exemptions. Now we're looking at paying taxes on EVERY transaction. Remember when Georgians paid taxes on groceries? There's a word for a situation like that: Alabama.

The GBPI will be having a January conference on poverty. Check out their website for future details. In the meantime, the next Poor People's Day meeting is September 27 at 9 Gammon Ave., Atlanta 30315. Lunch is at 12:30 and the meeting starts at 1pm. Call 404.622.7778 for more information.

Pity the poor Georgian. Not only do we have to put up with stupid ideas from Washington DC, we also have to deal with our own legislature. True, Texas has a good run on dumb ideas, but their legislature only meets every other year. We in Georgia have to deal with something stupid every year. Here's whats next.

Speaker of the house Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) has an idea for tax reform. He wants to end property taxes outright and replace it with a sales tax. Income taxes stay. I pulled the summary from the AJC story from September 2 (No-property-taxes plan draws fire from local leaders). Here what would happen to Georgians under Richardson's plan. We:

• Would pay no property taxes on their homes, cars or businesses.
• Would continue paying an income tax.
• Would pay sales taxes on a wider range of goods and services, including all groceries, legal and accounting fees, haircuts and possibly some medical care.

In the last election Perdue proposed ending income taxes for rich retirees. The AJC also has a list of other proposals including a proposal by Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) and Rep. Steve Davis (R-McDonough) to eliminate state income taxes and raise sales taxes.

Tax reform is desperately needed in the state since working people bear the greatest burden. Corporations and the rich get off. However, adding to that burden is not a good idea. Eliminating the income tax (a progressive tax) and replacing it with a sales tax (a regressive tax) is a bad idea. Ending property taxes and centralizing all decision making in the legislature is a REALLY bad idea.

Find out more about tax reform at the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute reality check site. They are having a series of open meetings on tax reform. Check out the site for the latest info. This may become a big issue for Poor People's Day as well. People's Tax Reform is long overdue.