Once again Georgia is shown to be a low tax state. The Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C., released a national study that compares how much different companies pay in taxes. The study reveals that Georgia has the 3rd lowest business tax costs for mature operations and… [Read more]

Categories: Alan Essig, Blog | Comments (1)

Although Georgia already spends less than most states on its Medicaid program, State leaders plan to “redesign” the program to save money.
The state’s consultant (Navigant, Inc.) conducted a review of Georgia’s current Medicaid program and issued a report in January with redesign options for the state to consider. The… [Read more]

By now you have probably heard that Georgia owes a lot of money to the federal government, $736 million to be exact, for helping us pay state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.
What hasn’t received enough attention, however, is how Georgia got into this mess. For more than a decade Georgia… [Read more]

Categories: Author, Blog, Clare S. Richie | Comments (3)

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]

Categories: Alan Essig, Blog, State Taxes | Comments (2)

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]

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

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]

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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]

Categories: Alan Essig, Blog, Cedric Johnson, Education | Comments (2)

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]