Georgia's HB581 with Senator Gooch: Property Tax and Local Government Accountability

In November Georgia had a constitutional change on the ballot. HB581. The people of GA have been concerned about their property tax and appraisals. The amendment 65% voted yes on the constitutional amendment. But there is an option for cities, counties and the board of education to opt out. There are town hall meetings all across the state. There is a lot of confusion around this amendment. .
The opt-out came from the House. The lobbyist pushed back and tried to kill the bill. They had to pass the bill because it was good for the homeowners so the compromise was to opt-out. The ⅔ school boards are leaning in the direction to opt out. Get your tax bill and look how fast these tax bills have gone up. They have kept the millage rate the same but what they have done is a backdoor tax increase with the appraisal values. Local tax payers are looking at the millage rates
This bill does not lower the revenue. Keeps the inflated rates not to go above the previous years CPI. if a local school board says they need a 10% increase in revenue.
Any county that currently has an exemption on the book. This bill does nothing to the current exemption. The benefit will go to the taxpayer. This is an addition to the current options.
FLOST does require that all the cities and counties participate to get the benefit. There is a potential to eliminate property taxes. But does not help the school board. Help to reduce the burden of the taxpayer to protect
They do not want to take the accountability for the increases. It will force them to lower budgets rather than relying on the backdoor taxes. It is time for them to accept the accountability. The increased revenue will no longer be based on increased appraisals. It would limit the increases to the CPI, last year was 8%. They would need to live within the 8% increase.
Local tax assessors already have the equipment to handle because they already figure the different property taxes for each property within the district.
FLOST, it is not a revenue increase, is an offset, it is a zero net gain for the county or city. All citizens pay the tax. We don’t have sales tax on groceries. It is the people that are spending the money on the big ticket items that would pay the lion’s share.
There are never any discussions on budget cuts. Cut the ones you don’t use. School boards use the ad valorem tax to maintain a consistent revenue source rather than a sales tax that would fluctuate.
The board of regents are looking into prohibiting DEI. The governor's office is looking at prohibiting DEI.
There are state agencies that did not come back to work after COVID. The governor has done a good job cracking down on the work from home employees.
Budget hearings were canceled early in the week. WE have billions that are being returned back to the citizens. Lowering the income tax rate.