I believe in reducing the tax burden on our citizens and increasing government accountability. This is why I am sponsoring legislation in this year’s General Assembly that would allow Georgia’s counties to collect a sales tax of less than 1 cent.
Imagine that if each time you went to the supermarket to pick up a few household items, you were required to purchase $100 worth of stuff. You would be forced to buy items that were unneeded, more expensive or possibly both. Our families don’t operate like this. Neither should our government.
Current Georgia law allows counties to propose a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) for assessing and collecting a 1 cent sales tax. Usually lasting four, five or six years, and sometimes shared with cities, the funds are used for capital projects such as road construction and other infrastructure. However, a SPLOST is currently required to be 1 percent, with no flexibility for a lower rate.
Since some counties and cities have well-developed infrastructure, the 1 one-percent rate can raise more revenue than necessary to fund critically needed capital projects. Because these funds must be spent on capital projects, some jurisdictions create non-essential projects to ensure all revenue is spent. These non-essential projects could require additional maintenance funds, which must come from a county’s general budget.
During the 2013 General Assembly, I introduced HB 153. It allows counties to propose a fractional SPLOST tax percentage, meaning less than 1 cent. (It’s important to note this legislation allows an option for a lower rate on future SPLOST referendums and is not a new or additional SPLOST.)
Some suggest just shortening the SPLOST’s duration, but this leads to changing sales tax rates more frequently, not to mention that a consistent, lower sales tax rate can lead to more revenue when economic development is factored in in later years.
According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, at least 22 of the 37 states that have local option sales taxes allow a fractional rate. Georgia already charges a fractional percentage for the gasoline excise tax, 7.5 cents per gallon. If counties chose to reduce their SPLOST rate by one-half of 1 percent, for example, this could save the average Georgia family $80 to $100 a year.
A bipartisan bill, HB 153 is supported by county commissioners, the Georgia Tea Party, Americans for Prosperity, several business associations and taxpayer associations statewide. This group may seem like strange friends after 2012’s T-SPLOST vote, but we are united behind this fiscally responsible legislation.
I believe this is a necessary tool to encourage local governments to focus on essential projects while lessening the burden on taxpayers. The fractional SPLOST makes cents and sense.
State Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, represents District 46.
