Legislators & Governor Should Just Go Fishin'
It seems like 2002 all over again, and a “New Day in Georgia.” Most of the Madison Forum members remember 2002, the year when Sonny Perdue defeated Roy Barnes to become the first Republican governor since reconstruction. Most also remember that in his first week in office, Governor Perdue proposed a $280 million property tax hike. We’ll, five years later, and just over 24 hours before the session’s end, Governor Perdue vetoed the $700 million mid-year spending plan that included a $142 property tax rebate. The next morning, the House voted to override the veto, but the Senate never took up the issue. One of the longest legislative sessions ended on April 20th, with the Governor to call a special session for May.
“Coming back in May again this year to take care of a dispute that couldn’t be settled in April is a bad sign,” said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. According to Professor Bullock, the Governor didn’t actively get involved in the review of his budget requests until very late in the session, unlike this Governor’s recent predecessors. In the end, the money Governor Perdue wanted for certain initiatives were left out of the House and Senate’s compromise mid-year budget. He also wanted a tax cut of his own, one that would go only to high-income retirees. His plan would have eliminated state income taxes on all retirement income. Presently, retirees are allowed up to $25,000 retirement income exclusion on income including pensions, dividends and interest income. In addition, social security is not taxable in Georgia. In the end, this session will go down as the session of rivalries, a session of huge egos, and a session of disagreements between two men that appear headed to meet in the 2010 Governor’s race. So where do we go from here in the special session slated for May that will cost Georgia taxpayers an estimated $43,000 each day, for an estimated total of $200,000 - $225,000?
In his recent article “This special session, our politicians should just go fishin,” Brett Blackwood, a columnist from the Gainesville Times, had what I think is the best solution to sort out this mess. The plan laid out by Mr. Blackwood begins by acknowledging that Governor Perdue is a big proponent of fishing, and wants to bring more people to our lakes and rivers. It also presents a solution for the $142 million of unspent money that the House and Senate wanted to go to property tax rebates. Mr. Blackwell calculates the tax rebate to each Georgian to be $15.77. He arrives at this number by dividing the 9 million Georgians by the “left over” $142 million. He subtracts from this $15.77 the reduced cost of a fishing license or $6 (regularly $9 but an introductory offer cuts $3 from the cost). He then subtracts $7.50 for a rod and reel (regularly $15 but buying 9 million would result in a 50% discount). This leaves $2.27 that Mr. Blackwood believes should be used to buy an RC Cola, a Moon Pie, and a can of sardines for each Georgian. He concludes that this will being a new era into our great state of Georgia…the fishing state.
A “New Day in Georgia” indeed. Will the special session have any effect on Georgia voters? Probably not since the unfortunate reality is that not many voters pay a whole lot of attention to what the General Assembly does. Perhaps they should.