State House Dems Unveil $1B Revenue Plan

Georgia House Democrats say they have a plan to generate $1 billion or more for the state-without raising taxes.

The measure targets the collection of sales taxes in Georgia. It calls for a transfer of control from the state Department of Revenue-to local governments. Local governments could then contract private firms for collection.

House Democrats say currently, hundreds of millions of dollars in uncollected tax revenue slips between the cracks in Georgia’s collection system.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Calvin Smyre of Columbus says local government control would eliminate excess costs in the revenue collection process:

"This is an efficiency in government...streamlining government...providing additional revenues for our budgetary woes that are facing the state of Georgia. We think this is a very-very first step toward reforming our tax codes."

House Democrats say a similar plan in Alabama has already netted that state a spike of more than $1 billion.

House Bill 356 made its debut at the State Capitol today-its sponsor is Democrat Virgil Fludd of Tyrone.

State agency budgets could take another punch

The watch is on for possible deeper cuts for state agencies in the wake of another bleak Georgia revenue report. On Friday, Governor Sonny Perdue released numbers showing state revenues fell 7-percent in August from the same month a year ago. The main revenue streams were all down—Georgians were buying less in food, clothing, and gas. Already, state agencies are under a directive to cut budgets by 6-percent to deal with a projected 1.6 billion dollar shortfall.

State revenue figures show decline in August

The Governor's office released revenue numbers for the month of August. Net collections were $1,259,630,000 compared to $1,353,789,000 in August of a year ago.
The numbers represent a 7% dip from one year ago.