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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > March > 09
Monday, March 9, 2009
Grocery sales taxes making a comeback for visitors
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House Republicans are discussing bringing legislation to the chamber on Thursday that would put the state’s 4 percent sales tax back on groceries.
They argue that the legislation would be “revenue neutral” for Georgians who file income tax returns because it would give them a credit to make up for paying grocery taxes.
The idea is to raise badly needed revenue for the state by forcing out-of-state shoppers and Georgians who don’t file income tax returns to pay more sales taxes.
Supporters say it could raise $250 million or more a year.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose), has filed bills the past few years putting the sales tax back on groceries. The state portion of the sales tax was removed from most groceries during the late 1990s. Doing so was long a pet project of then-Gov. Zell MIller.
Under the Sims bill that passed the House Ways and Means Committee last week, Georgia residents who file income tax returns would be able to deduct either the taxes they paid on groceries, documented with receipts, or get a credit based on the number of dependents in their family.
It’s unclear whether the proposal will make it to the House floor, or if it has a chance of passing.
But Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), said, “Any time you shift the tax burden from Georgia residents to non-Georgia residents, it sounds like a good idea.”
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Corporate tax break axed from House package
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House will be voting Thursday on a package of tax cuts designed to entice businesses to hire the unemployed. But killing the corporate income tax is no longer part of the package.
Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger), sponsor of the measure, said he wants the General Assembly to study eliminating the corporate income tax, and other tax breaks for businesses, over the summer and reconsider the issue in the 2010 session.
The package, pushed by House Republican leaders, will give tax breaks to employers for hiring and retaining the unemployed. It also would eliminate some fees businesses pay.
Corporate income taxes would begin being phased out in 2012. But a fiscal note on the bill from the Department of Audits and the Office of Planning and Budget said eliminating corporate income taxes wouldn’t do much to increase economic growth.
Meanwhile, it would cut state revenues by $600 million to $900 million in most years. Graves said not all businesses pay corporate income taxes, and he wants to look at tax breaks that will help all businesses.
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UPDATED: House approves stiffer penalties for ‘superspeeders’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATE: 12:41 P.M. The House has approved legislation added stiff new penalties to so-called superspeeders and promising the money for improved trauma care.
House Bill 160, one of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s key agenda items, was approved by a vote of 113-53.
The bill would add a $200 fine to those who get busted for doing 85 mph or above on highways and interstates and 75 mph on two-lane roads.
Rep. Jim Cole (R-Forsyth), one of Perdue’s floor leaders, told his colleagues the bill would raise about $23 million that the governor wants to spend on improved trauma care in the state.
Of that $23 million, $7 million would come from the higher fines and another $16 million from higher reinstatement fees for people who get their license suspended.
The outcome of this bill was in doubt. Cole got several unfriendly questions and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville), questioned the need for the bill before proposing an amendment that was would allow Georgia Highway Patrol troopers to run radar in unmarked cars during daylight hours.
Collins said that would do more to stop speeders than the threat of higher fines.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) urged colleagues to back the bill. It was just the second time this session the big man visited the well to address the House on a bill.
“These aren’t people who care about the law,” Richardson said, referring to people who have had their licenses suspended and would have to pay the higher fee to get the privilege back.
Moments later, Richardson ruled Collins’ amendment to be non-germane, meaning the amendment is not related enough to the bill.
And a motion to table the bill failed as well.
HB 160 now goes to the Senate.
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Senate committee passes bill that would restrict stem cell research
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Senate committee narrowly approved a bill Monday morning that would restrict stem cell research in Georgia, just as President Barack Obama has announced a lifting of restrictions on federal dollars for such research.
By a vote of 7 to 6 the Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved a revised version of Senate Bill 169 Monday morning.
The bill will go to the Rules Committee Tuesday and if approved, could make it to the Senate floor for a vote Thursday, which is the last day a bill can be considered by either chamber and still remain alive during this legislative session.
Opponents say the new version of the bill would criminalize stem cell research in Georgia and place a chilling effect on the practice of in-vitro fertilization.
Supporters say it’s an attempt to respect the right of life, even an embryonic potential life.
Senate Bill 169 defines a living human embryo as a person, not property. It prohibits the destruction of a living human embryo for any reason, such as scientific research. It would also apply in the event a couple has decided they no longer want to try to become pregnant, and want to dispose of their frozen embryos kept at a fertility clinic.
E. Culver “Rusty” Kidd, a lobbyist for the medical industry who uses a wheelchair now after a motorcycle accident 10 years ago, told the committee he opposes the bill.
He spoke representing himself Monday and summed up what he thinks the bill does in one short sentence.
“If you shuck the corn and get down to what this bill really does, you’re defining when life starts,” Kidd said.
The bill would prohibit the creation of human embryos for scientific research in Georgia.
“What they’re trying to do is eliminate embryonic stem cell research,” said Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, a private non-profit that promotes Georgia’s life sciences industry. He said it would have a negative effect on Georgia’s ability to recruit bio tech firms to the state.
Sen. David Adelman (D-Decatur) spoke against the bill, saying it addresses an area that is too complicated and controversial to be responsibly dealt with after only a few days of deliberation.
A subcommittee of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee was assigned to study the bill last Thursday. Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) came back with an amended version over the weekend and presented it to the subcommittee Monday morning, and it was approved 2 to 1 and passed on to the full committee.
“I’m concerned that Georgia is putting politics ahead of science,” Adelman said.
“We’ll send an unmistakable message that Georgia is an anti-science state,” he said.
Senate Bill 169 was first introduced as a bill that would prohibit another “octuplet mom” like the recent case of Nadya Suleman in California. Suleman gave birth to eight babies after in-vitro fertilization. She already has six children and is on public assistance.
While many of the controversial provisions about restricting in-vitro fertilization techniques have been removed from the bill, the legislation would still hinder in-vitro fertilization practice, said Dr. Andrew Toledo, a doctor with Reproductive Biology Associates.
The bill prohibits the destruction of human embryos for any reason. This would place an obstacle in the way clinics operate, Toledo said.
When parents decide that they no longer want embryos that are frozen, they either donate them for scientific research, or they ask that they be disposed, Toldeo said.
The bill would prohibit both practices and place patients in an uncertain situation, paying about $500 per year to preserve the embryos they no longer need, Toledo said.
Right to life supporters of the bill who testified at the meeting included the Catholic Archdiocese and the Georgia Baptist Convention.
The group Georgia Right to Life argues that the bill would allow for effective legal protection for all human beings from their earliest moment of development through natural death.
“No one’s right for a cure supercedes another’s right to life,” said Dan Becker, president of Georgia Right to Life.
During debate on the bill, Sen. Johnny Grant (R-Milledgeville) asked if the left-over embryos would become wards of the state.
“Are we creating a new liability of the state?” Grant asked.
“I don’t think we have an answer to that question,” said Smith.
Tom Daniel, Senior Vice Chancellor for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, said the university system opposes it.
“We’re concerned it would have a damaging effect on research being done now and our ability to successfully do that in the future,” Daniel said.
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