Less than a week after Gov. Nathan Deal proposed record state spending, Senate Finance Chairman Judson Hill is calling for a constitutional amendment to lower the state’s income tax take.
Those two things - record state tax collections and a bill to cut taxes - may be more a coincidence than anything else since Hill, R-Marietta, has proposed cutting income taxes for years.
Hill’s legislation would reduce the maximum state income tax rate from 6 percent to 5.4 percent and increase personal exemptions filers can take. It would also limit some itemized deductions, although it would preserve some of the biggest ones. And it would eliminate the so-called “marriage penalty” and corporate net worth taxes.
The lawmaker also is proposing a constitutional amendment to reduce the maximum personal income tax rate to 5 percent, depending on state revenues and the size of the state’s reserves.
Hill has requested a “fiscal note” to find out how much it would cost. However, cutting the maximum income tax rate by 10 percent alone, as the bill requires, would mean Georgians would pay about $1 billion a year less in taxes.
Deal has warned lawmakers off any major tax cut bills this session. But some lawmakers, who are up for re-election, may be feeling pressure to slash taxes after approving a $900 million fuel and hotel tax increase last year to pay for transportation projects.
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