Rarely do I agree with Georgia opinion writers, so I am ecstatic to link to this piece in The Ledger-Enquirer and this piece in The Macon Telegraph about the timing of corporate tax cuts in Georgia.
Our state needs to think long and hard about the ways we go about raising revenue. We have to ensure that policies that help big business actually do bring quality jobs to the state and that they do not require additional cuts in an education system that already lets our students down again and again.
I appreciate lawmakers focusing on jobs and employment, seeing as Georgia’s unemployment rate soared beyond 10 percent recently. But, there comes a point when low income taxes only do so much. In order to attract more business, we should invest in quality of life standards like health (trauma), education, and public transportation (and no, not just a streetcar running down Peachtree).
This policy brief from the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities questions the results that corporate tax breaks bring for states, especially those that simultaneously require broadening sales taxes and cutting human services.
I wish I could devote more of my time to health writing, but in a state that doesn’t do a great job at raising revenue, and does an even poorer job of allocating it to health priorities, I figure I should spend some time on tax policy. So please excuse my digression.
More to come, but this is a lunch break. Developed thoughts after work.
