ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp wants to get more money into your hands. In his final State of the State address on Thursday, he spoke about giving taxpayers another rebate and state employees another bonus.
Kemp walked into the Georgia House Chambers to applause from both sides before delivering his eighth and final State of the State.
“There is no question, the state of our state is stronger, more prosperous, and safer today than it was in January 2019,” Kemp said.
Kemp wants to spend $1 billion to give rebates to taxpayers: $250 for single filers, $500 for joint filers.
He’s also proposing dropping the state income tax rate faster than planned to get it under 5%.
“We keep your tax burden low. We budget conservatively and responsibly and ensure state government is efficient with the dollars you trust us with,” Kemp said.
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Kemp also wants to give all state employees, including teachers and law enforcement, a one-time $2,000 bonus.
The Georgia Association of Educators’ Lisa Morgan appreciates that, but thinks other school employees should get it, too.
“Education support professionals, our cafeteria workers, our bus drivers, our custodians, our maintenance workers, all those people that we cannot educate our children without are probably not included,” Morgan said.
Kemp also announced he wants to start Georgia’s first needs-based scholarship.
Georgia Democrats applauded that.
“The most exciting thing I heard was the Dream program because we’ve been asking for need-based scholarships for years,” state Rep. Carolyn Hughley said.
Before he finished, he warned lawmakers against considering him a lame duck governor.
“Don’t be fooled. There’s more work to be done over the next 37 days. And for those who may think I’m a lame duck, well, I still have a big pen,” Kemp said.
Georgia Democrats said they were most disappointed that the governor gave little or no mention of health care, especially considering that the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies have run out.
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