Cagle proposes local sales taxes for transportation

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle has introduced legislation that would allow voters to decide whether to tax themselves to fund road improvements in their county. The penny sales tax measure needs two-thirds approval from both houses of the Legislature and approval from voters in a statewide referendum. Eighty percent of the money generated by a county sales tax would go towards local transportation projects, while the remaining twenty percent would fund statewide transit needs. Under the plan, local governments would decide whether to put a tax measure before voters.

Perdue: no need to kill property taxes

Governor Sonny Perdue on Monday cautioned against diving headfirst into the type of tax reform proposed by state House Speaker Glenn Richardson.

In a speech to the Atlanta Press Club, Perdue said Georgia's tax structure is fundamentally sound, and any ideas to change it should be carefully analyzed.

"We aren't facing the same funding crisis that other states are dealing with, and we don't need to create one in our state by shifting revenue sources from more stable streams of revenue, to more volatile streams of revenue".

Richardson wants to eliminate the property tax, which generates nine billion dollars in state revenues, and instead expand sales taxes.

Perdue said that could make Georgia's revenue stream vulnerable during economic downturns.

The governor said he's not opposed to some tweaks in the tax system, but that they should be date-driven and openly debated.