Senate leaders announced they will push legislation to lower the state's income tax rate by 10 percent over the next five years.

If fully implemented, it would eventually cut state income taxes more than $1.2 billion a year.

The proposal is in response to a plan passed last week by the House to eliminate the property taxes Georgians pay on cars. The Senate Finance Committee is expected to reject that tax cut Wednesday.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the Senate's president, had criticized the House plan because its benefits wouldn't be felt for more than a year. The proposal called for the phasing out of the car tax beginning July 2009.

Cagle said the Senate plan would bring immediate relief in the middle of an economic downturn. If approved, starting July 1, Georgian workers could see a little less money taken out of their paychecks for state income taxes.

In the first year, he said, it would save workers more than $200 million.

Because the plan reduces the tax rate, how much each workers would save depends on much they earn. High-earners would save far more than middle- and low-income Georgians. Many Georgians would see less than $100 in savings the first year.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has called the House car tax plan "irresponsible" in part because it cut so much potential state revenue at a time when the need for services, such as education and health care, is growing.

However, the Senate proposal cuts even deeper into state revenues than the House plan.

Cagle announced his plan in front of more than a dozen senators on the second floor of the Capitol.

"The impact will be felt this year when we put more money into the hands of hard-working families and our economy will begin to recover now instead of later," Cagle said.

Earlier Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on Richardson's proposal.

It would limit how much local governments could increase property assessments on homes and businesses and it would include Perdue's resolution to eliminate the .25 mill state property tax on homes.

During the meeting, Senate Finance Chairman Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) offered a substitute to the House plan that didn't include the car tax cut.

Richardson responded, "It is an embarrassment if this is what's being offered. This is not close to providing tax relief to the people of this state."