People-Powered Prosperity
People-Powered Prosperity
It is clearer than ever before that our state’s economy is not inclusive of every Georgian–and our entire state suffers as a result. People-Powered Prosperity details a vision for how state lawmakers can pursue strategies to help Georgians recover and thrive, as well as how the state can responsibly pay for the services our families rely on.
Our state boasts a successful business community and an attractive place to work, but problems and barriers across Georgia persist, including poverty, sky-high costs for college and child care, the maternal mortality crisis and inequities among women and people of color. These problems existed before COVID-19, but the pandemic has underscored them. Recovery is only possible if we invest in every Georgian and ensure no one is left out.
This campaign, led by GBPI, 9to5 Georgia, Faith in Public Life and Small Business Majority, offers policy solutions to these issues and explains how Georgia can fund statewide prosperity. During the 2023 Legislative Session, several PPP priorities advanced through the Legislature, and though this campaign will end in 2023, the work towards advancing a proactive revenue agenda and policies that strengthen economic security for Georgians continues.
Read our latest progress report here.
Sign Our Petition
and show your support for implementing a people-first plan for Georgia
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Request a Speaker
to come present the People-Powered Prosperity vision to your community
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Share Your Story
Your story could make a differences
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The Roadmap to People-Powered Prosperity Runs Through Four Key Pillars
Thriving Families
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Healthy Communities
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Educated Youth
A Strong Workforce
Georgia Can Afford an Ambitious Investment in its People
Fully funding our state’s shared priorities requires balancing Georgia’s state budget with sustainable revenue sources that fairly tax residents across the state. It is also important to reverse tax policies that cause the lowest-income families to pay the highest percentage of their earnings in state and local taxes and to make certain that the state avoids costly and inefficient loopholes or unnecessary tax breaks.
By modernizing the state’s tax code and implementing common-sense policies with demonstrated success in other states across the nation, Georgia’s leaders can both increase the state’s ability to fund its priorities and more equitably tax households. In order to achieve this goal, state leaders can:
- Preserve and strengthen the income tax for households and corporations by defending against cuts that largely benefit top earners and scaling back the double deduction to stabilize revenues and recover quickly during times of economic downtown
- Evaluate tax breaks for big business in order to trim back those that do not deliver enough benefit to offset the state’s lost revenue
- Increase the cigarette tax to the national average in order to raise over $500 million in annual revenues while discouraging tobacco use
- Extend the sales tax to cover all online purchases and some services
Recent Work
Sine Die 2023 Recap
David Schaefer
March 29, 2023
Legislative Session 2023 finished in the usual flurry of maneuvers and votes that lasted until the final minutes …
2023 Georgia Medicaid Unwinding: Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit
Leah Chan
March 24, 2023
Starting in April 2023, Georgia will have about a year to unwind the pandemic-era Medicaid continuous coverage policy …
Crossover Day 2023: Modest Safety Net Reforms Advance; Tax Rebates and School Vouchers Create Potential Budget Holes
David Schaefer
March 7, 2023
Yesterday, March 6, marked Crossover Day 2023, the day by which a bill generally must pass out of …
New GBPI/UGA Poll Shows Georgians Support State Investments to Boost Health, Education, and Economic Mobility
Lauren Frazier
February 3, 2023
A new poll commissioned by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) and the University of Georgia (UGA) …
2023 Policy Priorities
Nadia Hicks
January 9, 2023
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute’s goal is to shine a light on people-first policies that help all …
Keeping Georgians Covered: Tools for Minimizing the Harm of the Medicaid Unwinding
Leah Chan
October 26, 2022
Updated February 1, 2023: On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was signed …