State Budget

Governor Perdue recently ordered three percent more in cuts to the Department of Human Services (DHS), which is charged with protecting the most vulnerable Georgians, such as abused children and the elderly. Download the PDF.

Georgia is one of a few states that allows a deduction for state income taxes for filers who itemize. Repealing it would bring in an estimated $450 million, which in K-12 education alone, could have prevented the six furlough days and additional cuts to the education funding formula in the… [Read more]

Georgia Has Many Revenue Options Available: Lawmakers should avoid harming Georgia’s economy more by slashing vital services and decimating state government. Download the PDF.

Lawmakers should close the deficit and protect local economies by raising more revenues: “It is important not to crush state budgets by relying solely on spending cuts,” said Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com. Download the PDF.

Education comprises more than 50 percent of state spending; therefore, if lawmakers refuse to add new revenues to the state budget, the likely consequences for years to come are: larger class sizes in K-12 schools, less school days for some K-12 schools, more adjunct faculty at colleges and universities instead… [Read more]

The governor’s proposed state budget cuts for fiscal year 2011 total $116.5 million, or 18.2 percent, of the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) budget.  Download the PDF.

The Amended Fiscal Year 2010 budget should contain the first state reimbursements to certain schools and counties for property tax exemptions provided in the Forest Land Protection Act of 2008. Without these funds, several rural school districts face another loss of revenue, beyond the cuts to formula funding experienced across… [Read more]

The state budget deficit is due to a lack of revenues. State revenue collections, as a percentage of personal income, have declined dramatically over the past 10 years. As Georgians’ incomes have increased, the amount the state collects has not kept pace.Without new revenues, Georgia is facing an additional $2.6… [Read more]

Georgia’s budget crisis is not due to funding the wrong priorities or waste and inefficiency. Georgia has a revenue problem. To avoid devastating cuts to such vital government services as education, healthcare, and public safety, Georgia needs a balanced approach to the budget crisis, an approach that includes additional revenues,… [Read more]

Using a more balanced approach to budgeting would reduce the cuts, such as budgeting additional revenues through increasing the cigarette tax,enacting a new top income tax rate, improving tax collections, suspending or ending tax breaks, increasing fees, and closing corporate loopholes. Without new revenues, Georgia faces an additional $2.6 billion… [Read more]