Georgia House Majority Leader Stacey AbramsATLANTA — The property tax on cars and trucks would be phased out gradually for Georgia residents, and married couples would get larger tax breaks under a last-minute proposal Monday from Republican lawmakers.
The bill would mean that people who hold onto their cars would have to keep paying an annual tax pegged to the car’s value, but those who buy new or used vehicles after it goes into effect would not.
Republicans want to give big tax breaks to businesses such as Delta Air Lines Inc., manufacturers, the agriculture sector and companies promising to relocate to the state. All those perks come at a cost. A draft analysis by Georgia State University predicted the changes would create a $53 million deficit next year, a gap equal to less than 1 percent of the current state budget.
“We’ll find the money in the state budget,” said Sen. Don Balfour, a ranking Republican and accountant who presented the plan. His proposal was released in the waning days of the legislative session and ahead of this year’s elections. A major priority for Gov. Nathan Deal, the package is a smaller plan compared to an effort that failed last year.
Under questioning, Balfour said he was unaware of any plans to offset the loss in state revenue triggered by the plan with new sources of money or budget cuts. He said the actual cost of the tax breaks may be smaller and that the economic growth created by the tax changes would attract new businesses that generate more tax money. He referred to plans by Caterpillar Inc. to build a $200 million manufacturing plant near Athens.