Property taxes eyed to eliminate Georgia income taxes

(The Center Square) – In Georgia, state income taxes provide nearly half of the government’s revenue, making lawmakers’ perennial promise to eliminate the burden on workers hard to fulfill.

And doing so without addressing property taxes would “be incomplete,” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said Tuesday.

The Senate Study Committee to Eliminate Georgia’s Income Tax, authorized by Jones, is expected to hold one more meeting before completing a final report. Lawmakers have not specified how they plan to compensate for the lost revenue if the income tax is eliminated.

“We haven’t heard from any of the proponents how they would actually pay for this and so it’s very difficult to have a full conversation with that central detail missing,” said Dr. Daniel Kanso, director of legislative strategy and senior fiscal analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy, in an interview with The Center Square.

Jones said in a commentary published in the Washington Examiner that a “practical phased approach” is needed that doesn’t incr...