ATLANTA — Your state property taxes could be capped or eliminated completely – Georgia lawmakers are debating it now. Some of the proposals could affect people who don’t own a house.
The House version eliminates property taxes, but it could mean a raise in county sales tax. The Senate version caps property taxes, Channel 2’s Richard Elliot reports.
Both are Republican proposals, and Democrats are skeptical of both.
Georgia lawmakers said they worry that people will start losing their homes simply because they can no longer afford to pay property taxes.
The Senate passed its version of property tax reform Tuesday, which would essentially put a cap on how much you pay.
House Republicans introduced historic property tax relief for Georgia homeowners, but the Republican-controlled House has an entirely different idea than the Republican-controlled Senate.
It wants to eliminate property taxes entirely by 2032. That version would allow counties to raise sales tax money and levy assessments to make up some of the loss.
They admit it’s a radical change to what we’re used to.
“So, we see different solutions working for different communities across the state, but that is part of the menu, is that they can access or repurpose existing pennies up underneath what is now a 5 cent cap for local,” said state Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire.
Calhoun Republican state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler prefers his Senate version but says he’s open to discussion.
“We want to make this available in all 159 counties, and we look forward to what the House does,” he said. “We certainly support further elimination of property taxes for our homeowners if that bill will do it.”
Georgia Democrats are skeptical of both proposals, wondering how the loss of property taxes will affect funding for police, fire and schools.
“And now what is happening? Talking about sales taxes going up and hitting regular Georgians is exactly what we said would take place,’ said state Sen. Harold Jones, R-Augusta. “We’re not going to fund our police. We’re not going to fund our schools, and at the same time, we’re going raise people’s sales taxes. It’s not a good deal at all.”
Both proposals will have a difficult time moving forward in the other chamber. There are proposals to get rid of the state income tax, too.
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