Atlanta

Major state tax overhaul could put more money in your pocket

By Richard Elliot, WSB-TV
By Richard Elliot, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal announced Tuesday that one of the biggest tax overhauls in years could mean big savings for families.

If Georgia had done nothing after the federal tax overhaul, estimates show the state could collect nearly $5 billion in taxes over the next five years.

State leaders thought that was too much of a windfall, so they decided to give some back to taxpayers.

Deal was joined by other state lawmakers to announce his plans to introduce a plan to cut Georgia taxes after changes in the federal tax code inadvertently gave the state a huge tax windfall.

"We believe that this approach makes clear our intent to rather reduce the tax burden on the citizens of our state while simultaneously safeguarding the mechanisms that keep our economy growing in the right direction," Deal told Channel 2 political reporter Richard Elliot.

The plan doubles the standard deduction for all Georgia taxpayers starting in 2018. It also reduces the income tax rate for individuals and corporations from 6 percent to 5.7 percent in 2019 and could further cut to 5.5 percent by 2020, with lawmakers and the next governor’s approval.

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“A family of four earning the average household income in Georgia will see their taxes cut by more than 15 percent a year under this plan on average,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said.

The plan also includes the elimination of the jet fuel tax - something Clayton County officials worried about, since they’ve been collecting that sales tax for 20 years while officials with the FAA said they shouldn’t have.

They worried that the state or Delta Air Lines might come back for all that money.

But county commission chair Jeff Turner said the governor worked out a deal where the state and Delta would not hold Clayton County responsible for whatever was collected in the past.

“So, we’re happy so far with what we’ve heard, but we definitely want to see the bill and see where do we from there,” Turner told Elliot.

Clayton officials said the state now needs to come up with ways to help them make up the loss of that tax revenue.

Cox Media Group

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