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Monday, October 15, 2007
Richardson to face tough crowd?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce has invited House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) to talk to chamber members about his controversial plan to wipe out all property taxes in Georgia.
Richardson is scheduled to appear at the chamber’s Duluth headquarters at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 25.
The House speaker will try to sell members on his “4 PLUS 4 = 0” plan. Richardson proposes replacing all property taxes collected by local governments and school boards with added sales taxes on all goods and services, including food and health care.
Those items are currently exempted from the state’s 4 percent sales tax. Under Richardson’s plan, the state would parcel out the added sales tax revenue to local governments and school boards across the state.
The concept is politically popular, but critics say Richardson’s plan is based on fuzzy math. Not only that, but it gives the state nearly all the power local governments and school boards currently have to tax themselves, they say.
Some Gwinnett political and business leaders fear that if Richardson’s plan is passed and approved by voters in a referendum, this bustling county would get shortchanged. They also worry that Gwinnett’s share of sales tax revenue could come with policy strings attached.
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