The House is considering returning a tax break to charities, even as a state panel has recommended eliminating the sales-tax exemption entirely.
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, on Tuesday introduced a flurry of bills that would exempt nonprofits from sales taxes when buying food and making other expenses for their clients. An exemption for food bought by food banks expired in June.
House bills 318, 331, 333 and 334 would extend exemptions on the sales tax on food bought for donations to hunger relief, by job training organizations, by food banks and for disaster relief donations, respectively. Another proposal, House Bill 317, would exempt sales taxes on items bought for volunteer charity health clinics.
The state traditionally granted the tax exemptions because the charities provide a public service that government might otherwise have to provide.
The Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians has recommended eliminating the break and also urged adding taxes to services provided by nonprofits, such as counseling, as part of an overhaul of the state’s tax code. Consideration of the council’s recommendations is ongoing.
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