One thing was certain if Democrat Jason Carter was elected governor last fall: There was zero chance he would ever get a Republican-dominated General Assembly to approve a tax increase. This was a comforting thought to fiscal conservatives when Carter was polling well in 2014.
Gov. Nathan Deal’s re-election was also no reason for concern, because any proposal to raise taxes would be dead on arrival. After all, Gov. Deal, like most Republican leaders, had taken the “no new taxes” pledge of Americans for Tax Reform. Georgia citizens were finally due a tax cut — state revenues were up, and the last tax cut was under Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes 16 years ago — and they certainly didn’t need to fear a tax increase.
Or so we thought.
Since the Republican sweep in November, one trial balloon after another has been floated by Republican leaders suggesting Georgia’s “transportation crisis” is so dire, raising new revenues cannot be avoided. These Republicans point to the recent study committee report as justification for their flip-flop on new taxes — but nothing in the report justifies new taxes.
Georgia’s transportation issues do not amount to a crisis, and they certainly aren’t new. Metro Atlanta has had traffic jams for decades. So does every large city. The notion money can cure the “problem” of bad traffic is absurd. As long as most schools and businesses keep standard hours, rush hours will exist. Building more or wider roads does little to decrease traffic jams. They simply fill up with traffic again.
Public transportation also isn’t a miracle cure. A bus with three or four people in it (like most that I see) actually harms traffic flow. We all know the pain of being caught behind a bus that stops, causing a mini traffic jam each time. Trains are so limited in their route system that they are only useful for a small percentage of citizens, and then only for some of their trips. In my experience, the worst traffic in America is in and around New York City, the American city with the most extensive public transportation system.
Atlanta traffic also hasn’t gotten markedly worse in recent years. Spaghetti Junction, Ga. 400, I-75 in Cobb and Henry counties, and many other corridors have all been horrible since the 1990s. The new “transportation crisis” is a fiction. Our transport system is fully on par with other states.
Even so, if our legislators are bound and determined to spend more money on transportation, fiscal conservatives have no opposition, as long as such funding is taken from other spending.
There’s plenty of fat in the Georgia budget that can be spent on transportation. For example, the governor proposes to spend $9.5 million on a new center for the Future Farmers of America and $6.7 million for a new GBI morgue. As long as such boondoggles are being proposed, new revenue isn’t needed.
To be clear, fiscal conservatives do not oppose tax reform. Lowering taxes or shifting revenue streams is warranted. The priority should be reducing Georgia’s income tax. Georgia simply cannot compete with Tennessee and Florida, which have no income tax. Why would a small business locate in Georgia when the owner and employees will have to work 6 percent harder to make the same amount? The income tax should be reduced from 6 percent to 5 percent, and all income below $50,000 should be exempt.
Some of the lost revenue can be recouped through a combination of higher gas and cigarette taxes and closing special-interest loopholes. But most of the drop in revenue should be covered by simply limiting the rate of spending increases. Fiscal conservatives know spending increases should be tied not to increases in tax receipts, but to the rate of inflation and population growth. Thirty states have adopted such limits on spending, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Georgia, too, should adopt this wise practice.
If Georgia Republicans cannot be trusted when they have total control of the purse strings, perhaps divided government is the only solution. Spending has been relatively constrained during periods of divided government in Washington, such as the Clinton years when Newt Gingrich was House speaker. On the other hand, from 2003 to 2007, when George W. Bush was in the White House and Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, they spent like drunken sailors. Of course, in 2006 they suffered a dramatic defeat at the polls, and both houses were retaken by the Democrats.
Georgia’s Republicans will suffer the same fate if they raise taxes. New taxes would never have been possible under a Carter governorship, and Republicans should not make the voters who supported them regret their vote. Gov. Deal has not said he supports tax increases. Disturbingly, however, he has not slammed the door on the notion. I hope on May 1 fiscal conservatives aren’t dreaming of what might have been under a Carter governorship.
