TAXES
Don’t tweak reformers’ ideas; implement them
Georgia’s Special Council for Tax Reform and Fairness deserves credit for pointing the way for the Legislature to update its tax structure.
Unfortunately, politics is trumping economics. Lawmakers seem to prefer tweaking the status quo by using the tax code to dispense favors. Their likely changes fall way short of the meaningful reform that was the council’s original goal.
If they followed the council’s logic to its reasonable conclusion, they should eliminate both the state personal and corporate income tax.
The lost revenue can be recovered in two ways: extend the retail consumption tax to the broadest possible base of goods and services (except fruits and vegetables), and raise its effective rate to whatever is needed for revenue neutrality.
All Georgia workers now paying income tax would see an immediate boost in take-home pay. Evaders, criminal enterprises and the legally invisible would begin to pay more taxes. The state would save the expense of processing personal and business income tax returns (not to mention relieving the burden of preparation for all Georgia taxpayers). The friendlier business climate would help job creation as well.
Bill Fogarty, Alpharetta
MARTA
Shuttle service isn’t a sound fiscal decision
MARTA officials acknowledge that they operate the shuttle service at a loss, as they cannot charge a fee. This strikes me more as an extravagance than a sound fiscal model. In essence, MARTA is asking paying customers to subsidize people who are using the shuttle services to attend a leisure event.
I use MARTA service daily — to and from my job. Because MARTA has eliminated the portion of the route that came closest to my residence, I now have to walk more than a mile to complete my daily trip. I am sure that the distance from the stop closest to Turner Field is far shorter than that.
While I understand that MARTA has a fiduciary obligation to the members of this community, I believe there is a moral imperative to deploy the reductions in a way that is less punitive to the underclass, and more beneficial to the middle and upper classes.
Shuttle service to Turner Field is not a necessity. This seems to be a classic case of the “squeaky wheel” getting the grease.
Stephen Jackson, East Point
ENERGY
Georgia should shut its nuclear plants
I believe it’s time to close Georgia’s nuclear plants. The environmental damage (now being demonstrated in Japan) could just as easily happen here. Even if such an accident never occurred, the normal waste products will last for years.
Our current government can’t even manage to save Social Security monies for 70 years. How do they propose to save monies to safeguard nuclear waste materials for thousands of years?
Using nuclear power is just another way of victimizing future generations so that we can have a plush, unnatural lifestyle today.
It’s time to shut down our state’s nuclear plants.
Eric Aslakson, Atlanta
