The Atlanta Tea Party on Thursday threw their support behind the planning efforts of the state Senate, saying that chamber was “moving in the right direction for funding” Georgia’s $1 billion worth of transportation needs.
The endorsement came ahead of a state House committee vote on House Bill 170 — that chamber's plan to do the same thing — and could essentially be seen as a rejection of those efforts. The Senate has been unusually ahead of the legislative process on the issue, not waiting for HB 170 to pass the House before talking about ideas that it thinks may work better.
On Wednesday, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, hosted a former Florida transportation official who testified about what some members think may be a model for the state.
Surcharges on rental cars and real estate transactions were among the ideas that seemed to interest committee members, who also heard a presentation on one of Williams’ favorite proposals: allowing two or more counties to band together to pass a 1 percent sales tax to pay for local transportation projects.
None of those ideas are in HB 170.
“I plan on reaching out to members of the Senate Transportation Committee with suggestions and encourage other conservatives to do the same,” Atlanta Tea Party founder Debbie Dooley said in a statement Thursday, adding that “I thank them for their approach…many of the ideas the members of the Senate Transportation Committee were ideas we supported in 2012.”
“Corporate subsidies” and more local control were among the items Dooley suggested needed to considered.
“Part of the reason for Atlanta’s transportation woes is the large amount of development in already congested areas,” she said. “Many developers receive tax payer huge subsidies in the form of property tax exemptions when they build new developments . I like the approach of developers having to contribute to transportation needs.”
HB 170 would consolidate state and local sales taxes on motor fuel into one state excise tax of 29.2 cents per gallon. The bill would phase out almost all local sales taxes on gas, add a new annual user fee for drivers of electric vehicles and end a $5,000 tax credit for buying those zero-emission cars.
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