Georgia Senate budget writers on Tuesday backed Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan to provide a property tax cut of about $1 billion as part of the state’s midyear spending plan.
The Georgia House could this week approve another $1 billion income tax rebate that Kemp has proposed, a measure expected to quickly pass the Senate as well.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday backed a $32.5 billion midyear budget, which runs through June 30. It builds on consecutive years of massive tax surpluses the state has seen since the COVID-19 economic shutdown ended in the spring of 2020. It increases spending by about $2.36 billion, which Senate Appropriations Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said is in line with inflation.
The midyear spending plan is expected to be approved by the full Senate later this week, and then senators will negotiate a final deal with the House, which passed its version a few weeks ago.
If given final approval, homeowners would receive an extra one-time exemption on the value of their homes at tax time, a move that Kemp said last month would save those Georgians, on average, about $500.
Under legislation the House is expected to approve and Kemp proposed, many Georgians would also receive an income tax rebate, as they did last year — $500 for married couples who file jointly and $250 for single filers.
The Senate version of the midyear budget also includes $50,000 safety grants for each school, money to help students who may have fallen behind academically during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more money in dozens of other areas, such as health care, rural workforce housing development, prisons and public safety.
The Senate added money to give 54,000 state government pensioners one-time bonuses of about $500. State government pensioners got their first cost-of-living increase in more than a decade last year, although lawmakers have offered bonus checks some years.
Tillery said the Senate version of the midyear budget met or exceeded more than 90% of Kemp’s spending proposals. But he warned that passing a budget for fiscal 2024 — which begins July 1 — will be more difficult.
State revenue collections are expected to be down this year, meaning lawmakers will have less money to allocate as inflation continues to raise the cost of what government does.
“If you think the ‘23 budget is difficult, the ‘24 budget will be harder,” Tillery said.
The House is currently working on its version of the 2024 budget. Under state law, budgets for the coming year are the only thing the General Assembly is required to pass before it ends its annual session next month.
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