Tax council chairman delivers good news to Georgia farmers

Frazier's own short comments, though, drew the most attention

"Any tax on a farmer is a burden because we don't make anything anyway," said Hugh Veal Jr., who grows corn, hay, soybeans and wheat in Wrightsville.

Adding that that his county property taxes had increased 32 percent last year, Veal said, "We can't afford any more expenses."

The General Assembly created the tax council earlier this year and charged it with reviewing the state's entire tax code and recommending changes to make it simpler and fairer. The committee's report is due by the time the Legislature returns to session Jan. 10.

Frazier also said he and Deal discussed eliminating the tax on their flight to Jekyll Island.

"Because that was the one thing it seemed like we heard everywhere that was still missing and needing correcting," Frazier said.

Besides eliminating the existing energy tax, Frazier said the panel would also recommend maintaining the tax exemption on agriculture inputs, which are materials and goods used for farming and other agricultural industries.

"We're not going to give out all our recommendations here today," Frazier said. "But those two I wanted to let you know we heard you."

Lawmakers will give the panel's recommendations an up-or-down vote, and Deal must sign any plan before it becomes law.

The governor-elect spoke in general terms Monday about the state's budget crisis, and he asked the Farm Bureau to help identify ways to save money.

"We approach the transition process and my charge to the transition committee has been this: First of all, figure out if there is duplication of services and efforts. If there are duplications, let's try and eliminate the duplications. Let's consolidate services when that can be done. Hopefully you'll see some of that."

Deal said that "Republican rhetoric" about a belief in smaller government and reduced spending "has a great opportunity to be put into place."

With a budget hole estimated to be more than $1 billion, Deal said he and lawmakers are going to have to act to make cuts, although he offered no specifics.

"Those are the realities of the world in which we live," Deal said. "I think that is an all together appropriate thing to assume that posture. During the last few weeks we have been going through a transition period. I've been amazed how big state government really is."

Deal also spoke briefly about education, promising to work to make sure children can read at an appropriate level by the age of 8.

"We spend an awful lot of money trying to rehabilitate a child beyond that age if they never achieve the ability to read appropriately," he said. "I believe we should spend the money on the front end."

The goal for education, he said, is to help children land good jobs. More importantly, he said, is that those jobs be in Georgia.

"We spend that money and educate our children, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that we don't want that money to go to waste by sending our children to North Carolina or California or other parts of the country simply because they can't find a job right here in our state," Deal said. "We don't want to go to the trouble of educating them simply to make them better citizens for other states. I want them to be able to stay in Georgia."

But it was Frazier caused the biggest buzz in the convention hall.

"He said exactly what we were seeking to hear," Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said.

The energy Ralph Caldwell uses, such as propane to heat his chicken houses in Heard County, is already exempt from sales taxes. Frazier's recommendation would extend the exemption to fuel used in crop production, such as gasoline or diesel to run tractors.

Caldwell is worried, however, about word from the tax panel last week that it would study eliminating or adding a sunset date to all the state's existing exemptions.

"If there is a sunset on tax exemptions, that would then become a new tax on us," Caldwell said.

He estimates it would cost him at least $5,000 a year in sales taxes on propane alone. He said he spends about $70,000 a year to heat his 15 chicken houses.

Lawmakers at Monday's convention, however, said Frazier's recommendations will likely give the entire package of changes -- few of which have been announced -- more support in the Legislature, especially from lawmakers in rural counties.

"He probably just got a couple of votes," said Rep. Ellis Black, R-Valdosta.

Eliminating the tax on energy "is the whole ballgame," Black said.

Georgia is one of only a few Southern states that now have a tax on energy used in crop production. Eliminating it will make Georgia more competitive, said Rep. Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown.

"We're trying to make it where businesses want to come to Georgia," Anderson said, "not just look at coming to Georgia."