As posted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Plans to eliminate or drastically cut personal income taxes and replace them with other levies are in vogue in several states. Georgia policy makers would do well to ignore the siren’s call.
Such a tax shift would do nothing to help the state’s… [Read more]

This Thursday, I had the pleasure (so to speak) of attending a presentation at the state capitol by an advocacy group called the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Largely known in the tax-realm for its controversial annual report, “Rich States, Poor States,”ALEC is a coalition of anti-tax… [Read more]

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) recently released a report that destroys the myth that states without an income tax perform better economically than the states with high income tax rates. 
ITEP’s Executive Director Matthew Gardner is our guest blogger this week:
Reality Check: “High Rate” Income… [Read more]

If a car salesman told you that Fords are the highest ranked car, would you drive one off the lot without looking under the hood? A new report that ranks states on their “business tax climates” seems to hope you would.
Put out earlier this month, the Tax Foundation’s 2012 State Business… [Read more]

Categories: Blog, State Taxes, Wesley Tharpe | Comments (1)

Essig, Johnson: HOPE, pre-k need sustainable path
As published in Athens Banner-Herald
Understanding the realities of lottery funding in Georgia is as simple as a word problem in math class. Take a look:
Train A departs Hope City station at 70 miles per hour. Train B departs from… [Read more]

This month Congress will address extending the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program through September 30, 2012. As of today, Congress has eliminated the TANF Supplemental Grant which leaves Georgia short $37.3 million for many health and human service programs. If Congress doesn’t restore the TANF Supplemental Grant, Georgia… [Read more]

Earlier this month, GBPI released a report evaluating a tax credit proposal called CAPCO that nearly passed the Georgia legislature last year. A poorly-designed piece of “model legislation” with a dismal track record in other states, CAPCO thankfully seems to have lost momentum. Although despite the fact the Senate… [Read more]

The December revenue report shows a decrease in revenue collection compared to last December.

December 2011 revenue collections were down 1.2 % compared to December of 2010
Revenue growth in the first half of FY 2012 was only 5.2 %

What do these numbers mean?
Although we are still on… [Read more]

I’m very excited about visiting the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute next week and just wanted to quickly highlight the things I hope to talk about.
I plan to start with some of the usual stuff: what’s up, what’s down with the economy, both nationally and in Georgia, the… [Read more]

Categories: Blog, Jared Bernstein | Comments (1)

For the first time in several years there are no dramatic cuts in the governor’s proposed budget, although there still are some cuts. We appear to have hit the bottom and have begun the process to, at least, stabilize the state budget. In FY 2013, Gov. Nathan Deal includes funding… [Read more]

Categories: Alan Essig, Blog | Comments (1)