CHATSWORTH, Ga. – Murray County voters will decide in November whether the county will grant a tax break for some business inventories.
Officials say job creation is suffering because the county doesn’t already offer a freeport tax exemption, which eliminates taxes on some manufacturing and warehouse inventories.
“Some of the carpet manufacturers that would normally store their carpet here until it was shipped to whatever destination have moved their shipping operations to Gordon County or Dalton,” said Commissioner David Ridley.
In Georgia, it’s up to individual cities and counties to approve freeport exemptions. About 143 of the state’s 159 counties offer some level of freeport exemption, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
All of Murray’s neighbors offer freeport exemptions. Voters in its county seat, Chatsworth, approved freeport exemptions to go into effect in 2011, Mayor Tyson Haynes said.