(The list of who voted you in the largest property tax increase in Georgia history is at the end of this blog.)
House OKs Midyear Budget (by Insider Advantage)
(2/11/10) The Georgia House approved a midyear budget Thursday that cuts state spending in the current fiscal year by more than $1 billion in response to the mired economy. Majority Republicans acknowledged it will cause pain but said it is spread across state government, not restricted to just a few agencies. They touted their restoration of $17 million in funds which Gov. Sonny Perdue had proposed to cut from the QBE equalization grant that aids 134 school systems, and said they had protected the HOPE scholarship but foisting off his attempt to shift $33 million in costs for non-HOPE scholarships to the lottery. Democrats, led by Minority Leader (and gubernatorial candidate) DuBose Porter, lauded both moves but said that in the case of K-12 education, it wasn’t enough. Adding back $17 million still leaves education with an overall cut of $72 million, he said, boosting the cumulative cut to education during the Perdue years to about $2.5 billion...
“No, it’s not okay,” Porter said of the budget. “When we cut our teachers and cut our schools, we are shortchanging our kids.” He said the cuts to schools will force further property tax increases.
Rep. James Mill, R-Gainesville, the designated rebuttal man for Republicans, said Georgia voters want the state to be more like them and manage to make do with less. “This is less government; it is less spending,” he said.
________________________________
That would be the opposite of the truth.
In the short term, local governments will be forced to raise your property taxes because they are obligated to continue to pay for the classrooms that they currently have. This midterm budget passes the responsibility of finding that money down to local governments whose only choice will be to raise property taxes.
For the long term it is even more devastating to the tax payer.
A government so small it does not educate its public is an extremely expensive government to maintain. Prisons populations are predicted based on third grade reading scores. It costs $8,000 to educate a child and up to $50,000 to imprison one. Who will be paying for that difference? You will, and those numbers do not account for the lost contributions to the tax base for each prisoner, nor the financial harm caused to the victims. The only ones who will profit from the massive cuts in education are the people who build prisons, the people who will manage privatized prisons and the companies that will be able to use the prison workforce in their companies as a cheap source of labor. Your legislators know all this. They know when they reduce education now, they increase prison populations later, but smaller government makes a great soundbite. The real question on smaller government should be, "If smaller government creates a $50,000 cost where there should be an $8,000 one, do you still want it that small?" Somewhere along the line, the smaller government movement has gone astray and turned into smaller government at all costs. One of the biggest losers is the taxpayers, who will continue to see their property taxes go up, to try to sustain a financially unsustainable prison population.
But the elected Republicans ran on not raising taxes; surely if they knew this midterm budget would indirectly raise your property taxes they would not have passed it? Why not? They have already directly raised property taxes by repealing the Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant in last year’s 2009 session, when they gave taxpayers the largest single property tax increase in Georgia history:
HB 143 - Local government; homeowner tax relief grants; change certain provisions (...as in repealed it.)
N = No, don't repeal it and don't raise property taxes.
Y = Yes, repeal it and raise property taxes.
Senators:
House OKs Midyear Budget (by Insider Advantage)
(2/11/10) The Georgia House approved a midyear budget Thursday that cuts state spending in the current fiscal year by more than $1 billion in response to the mired economy. Majority Republicans acknowledged it will cause pain but said it is spread across state government, not restricted to just a few agencies. They touted their restoration of $17 million in funds which Gov. Sonny Perdue had proposed to cut from the QBE equalization grant that aids 134 school systems, and said they had protected the HOPE scholarship but foisting off his attempt to shift $33 million in costs for non-HOPE scholarships to the lottery. Democrats, led by Minority Leader (and gubernatorial candidate) DuBose Porter, lauded both moves but said that in the case of K-12 education, it wasn’t enough. Adding back $17 million still leaves education with an overall cut of $72 million, he said, boosting the cumulative cut to education during the Perdue years to about $2.5 billion...
“No, it’s not okay,” Porter said of the budget. “When we cut our teachers and cut our schools, we are shortchanging our kids.” He said the cuts to schools will force further property tax increases.
Rep. James Mill, R-Gainesville, the designated rebuttal man for Republicans, said Georgia voters want the state to be more like them and manage to make do with less. “This is less government; it is less spending,” he said.
________________________________
That would be the opposite of the truth.
In the short term, local governments will be forced to raise your property taxes because they are obligated to continue to pay for the classrooms that they currently have. This midterm budget passes the responsibility of finding that money down to local governments whose only choice will be to raise property taxes.
For the long term it is even more devastating to the tax payer.
A government so small it does not educate its public is an extremely expensive government to maintain. Prisons populations are predicted based on third grade reading scores. It costs $8,000 to educate a child and up to $50,000 to imprison one. Who will be paying for that difference? You will, and those numbers do not account for the lost contributions to the tax base for each prisoner, nor the financial harm caused to the victims. The only ones who will profit from the massive cuts in education are the people who build prisons, the people who will manage privatized prisons and the companies that will be able to use the prison workforce in their companies as a cheap source of labor. Your legislators know all this. They know when they reduce education now, they increase prison populations later, but smaller government makes a great soundbite. The real question on smaller government should be, "If smaller government creates a $50,000 cost where there should be an $8,000 one, do you still want it that small?" Somewhere along the line, the smaller government movement has gone astray and turned into smaller government at all costs. One of the biggest losers is the taxpayers, who will continue to see their property taxes go up, to try to sustain a financially unsustainable prison population.
But the elected Republicans ran on not raising taxes; surely if they knew this midterm budget would indirectly raise your property taxes they would not have passed it? Why not? They have already directly raised property taxes by repealing the Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant in last year’s 2009 session, when they gave taxpayers the largest single property tax increase in Georgia history:
HB 143 - Local government; homeowner tax relief grants; change certain provisions (...as in repealed it.)
N = No, don't repeal it and don't raise property taxes.
Y = Yes, repeal it and raise property taxes.
Senators:
PASSAGEFebruary 6, 2009 12:09PM
Yea (Y):29Nay (N):24Not Voting (-):0Excused (E):3
• NADELMAN, 42ND
• YBALFOUR, 9TH
• NBROWN, 26TH
• NBUCKNER, 44TH
• YBULLOCH, 11TH
• NBUTLER, 55TH
• YBUTTERWORTH, 50TH
• YCHANCE, 16TH
• NCHAPMAN, 3RD
• YCOWSERT, 46TH
• YCROSBY, 13TH
• YDOUGLAS, 17TH
• NFORT, 39TH
• YGOGGANS, 7TH
• NGOLDEN, 8TH
• YGRANT, 25TH
• YHAMRICK, 30TH
• NHARBISON, 15TH
• YHARP, 29TH
• YHAWKINS, 49TH
• YHEATH, 31ST
• NHENSON, 41ST
• YHILL, 32ND
• YHILL, 4TH
• NHOOKS, 14TH
• YHUDGENS, 47TH
• YJACKSON, 24TH
• NJACKSON, 2ND
• NJOHNSON, 1ST
• NJONES, 10TH
• YMOODY, 56TH
• YMULLIS, 53RD
• YMURPHY, 27TH
• NORROCK, 36TH
• YPEARSON, 51ST
• NPOWELL, 23RD
• NRAMSEY, SR., 43RD
• EREED, 35TH
• YROGERS, 21ST
• NSEABAUGH, 28TH
• NSEAY, 34TH
• YSHAFER, 48TH
• NSIMS, 12TH
• NSMITH, 52ND
• YSTATON, 18TH
• ESTONER, 6TH
• NTARVER, 22ND
• ETATE, 38TH
• YTHOMAS, 54TH
• NTHOMPSON, 33RD
• NTHOMPSON, 5TH
• YTOLLESON, 20TH
• YUNTERMAN, 45TH
• NWEBER, 40TH
• YWILES, 37TH
• YWILLIAMS, 19TH
Representatives:
Yea (Y):29Nay (N):24Not Voting (-):0Excused (E):3
• NADELMAN, 42ND
• YBALFOUR, 9TH
• NBROWN, 26TH
• NBUCKNER, 44TH
• YBULLOCH, 11TH
• NBUTLER, 55TH
• YBUTTERWORTH, 50TH
• YCHANCE, 16TH
• NCHAPMAN, 3RD
• YCOWSERT, 46TH
• YCROSBY, 13TH
• YDOUGLAS, 17TH
• NFORT, 39TH
• YGOGGANS, 7TH
• NGOLDEN, 8TH
• YGRANT, 25TH
• YHAMRICK, 30TH
• NHARBISON, 15TH
• YHARP, 29TH
• YHAWKINS, 49TH
• YHEATH, 31ST
• NHENSON, 41ST
• YHILL, 32ND
• YHILL, 4TH
• NHOOKS, 14TH
• YHUDGENS, 47TH
• YJACKSON, 24TH
• NJACKSON, 2ND
• NJOHNSON, 1ST
• NJONES, 10TH
• YMOODY, 56TH
• YMULLIS, 53RD
• YMURPHY, 27TH
• NORROCK, 36TH
• YPEARSON, 51ST
• NPOWELL, 23RD
• NRAMSEY, SR., 43RD
• EREED, 35TH
• YROGERS, 21ST
• NSEABAUGH, 28TH
• NSEAY, 34TH
• YSHAFER, 48TH
• NSIMS, 12TH
• NSMITH, 52ND
• YSTATON, 18TH
• ESTONER, 6TH
• NTARVER, 22ND
• ETATE, 38TH
• YTHOMAS, 54TH
• NTHOMPSON, 33RD
• NTHOMPSON, 5TH
• YTOLLESON, 20TH
• YUNTERMAN, 45TH
• NWEBER, 40TH
• YWILES, 37TH
• YWILLIAMS, 19TH
1175526
Representatives:
- NABDUL-SALAAM, 74TH
- NABRAMS, 84TH
- YALLISON, 8TH
- YAMERSON, 9TH
- YANDERSON, 117TH
- NASHE, 56TH
- YAUSTIN, 10TH
- NBAKER, 78TH
- YBARNARD, 166TH
- YBATTLES, 15TH
- YBEARDEN, 68TH
- NBEASLEY-TEAGUE, 65TH
- NBENFIELD, 85TH
- YBENTON, 31ST
- YBLACK, 174TH
- NBROOKS, 63RD
- NBRUCE, 64TH
- YBRYANT, 160TH
- NBUCKNER, 130TH
- YBURKHALTER, 50TH
- YBURNS, 157TH
- YBUTLER, 18TH
- YBYRD, 20TH
- YCARTER, 159TH
- YCARTER, 175TH
- YCASAS, 103RD
- YCHAMBERS, 81ST
- YCHANNELL, 116TH
- YCHEOKAS, 134TH
- YCOAN, 101ST
- YCOLE, 125TH
- ECOLEMAN, 97TH
- YCOLLINS, 27TH
- YCOLLINS, 95TH
- YCOOPER, 41ST
- YCOX, 102ND
- YCRAWFORD, 16TH
- YDAVIS, 109TH
- YDAVIS, 122ND
- NDAWKINS-HAIGLER, 93RD
- YDAY, 163RD
- YDEMPSEY, 13TH
- YDICKSON, 6TH
- YDOBBS, 53RD
- YDOLLAR, 45TH
- NDOOLEY, 38TH
- EDRENNER, 86TH
- NDUKES, 150TH
- YEHRHART, 36TH
- YENGLAND, 108TH
- NEPPS, 128TH
- NEPPS, 140TH
- YEVERSON, 106TH
- NFLOYD, 99TH
- NFLUDD, 66TH
- NFRANKLIN, 43RD
- NFRAZIER, 123RD
- NFULLERTON, 151ST
- NGARDNER, 57TH
- -GEISINGER, 48TH
- YGLANTON, 76TH
- YGOLICK, 34TH
- NGORDON, 162ND
- YGRAVES, 12TH
- YGREENE, 149TH
- YHAMILTON, 23RD
- YHANNER, 148TH
- YHARBIN, 118TH
- YHARDEN, 147TH
- YHARDEN, 28TH
- NHATFIELD, 177TH
- NHEARD, 114TH
- NHECKSTALL, 62ND
- YHEMBREE, 67TH
- EHENSON, 87TH
- YHILL, 180TH
- YHILL, 21ST
- YHOLT, 112TH
- YHORNE, 71ST
- YHOUSTON, 170TH
- NHOWARD, 121ST
- NHUDSON, 124TH
- NHUGLEY, 133RD
- NJACKSON, 142ND
- YJACOBS, 80TH
- NJAMES, 135TH
- YJERGUSON, 22ND
- YJOHNSON, 37TH
- EJOHNSON, 75TH
- NJONES, 44TH
- YJONES, 46TH
- NJORDAN, 77TH
- NKAISER, 59TH
- YKEEN, 179TH
- YKEOWN, 173RD
- YKNIGHT, 126TH
- YKNOX, 24TH
- YLANE, 158TH
- YLANE, 167TH
- YLEVITAS, 82ND
- YLINDSEY, 54TH
- NLONG, 61ST
- YLOUDERMILK, 14TH
- NLUCAS, 139TH
- ELUNSFORD, 110TH
- YMADDOX, 127TH
- YMADDOX, 172ND
- NMANGHAM, 94TH
- YMANNING, 32ND
- NMARIN, 96TH
- YMARTIN, 47TH
- YMAXWELL, 17TH
- YMAY, 111TH
- NMAYO, 91ST
- YMCCALL, 30TH
- NMCKILLIP, 115TH
- YMEADOWS, 5TH
- YMILLAR, 79TH
- YMILLS, 25TH
- NMITCHELL, 88TH
- NMORGAN, 39TH
- YMORRIS, 155TH
- NMOSBY, 90TH
- NMURPHY, 120TH
- YNEAL, 1ST
- YNIX, 69TH
- YO`NEAL, 146TH
- YOLIVER, 83RD
- YPARHAM, 141ST
- YPARRISH, 156TH
- YPARSONS, 42ND
- YPEAKE, 137TH
- NPORTER, 143RD
- YPOWELL, 171ST
- YPOWELL, 29TH
- YPRUETT, 144TH
- YRALSTON, 7TH
- YRAMSEY, 72ND
- NRANDALL, 138TH
- YREECE, 11TH
- YREESE, 98TH
- YRICE, 51ST
- -RICHARDSON, 19TH
- YROBERTS, 154TH
- YROGERS, 26TH
- YRYNDERS, 152ND
- YSCOTT, 153RD
- YSCOTT, 2ND
- YSELLIER, 136TH
- YSETZLER, 35TH
- YSHAW, 176TH
- YSHELDON, 105TH
- NSHIPP, 58TH
- YSIMS, 119TH
- YSIMS, 169TH
- NSINKFIELD, 60TH
- YSMITH, 113TH
- YSMITH, 129TH
- YSMITH, 131ST
- YSMITH, 168TH
- YSMITH, 70TH
- NSMYRE, 132ND
- NSTEPHENS, 161ST
- YSTEPHENS, 164TH
- NSTEPHENSON, 92ND
- YTALTON, 145TH
- NTAYLOR, 55TH
- ETEILHET, 40TH
- NTHOMAS, 100TH
- NTHOMPSON, 104TH
- YWALKER, 107TH
- YWELDON, 3RD
- YWILKINSON, 52ND
- YWILLARD, 49TH
- NWILLIAMS, 165TH
- YWILLIAMS, 178TH
- YWILLIAMS, 4TH
- NWILLIAMS, 89TH
- NWIX, 33RD
- YYATES, 73RD
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/sum/hb143.htm
Yesterday’s midterm budget was devastating to the educational system in Georgia and to the taxpayer. Where we should be focusing on attracting industry and jobs through a well educated workforce, we have instead made prisons our newest growth industry.
Vote for common sense, cost-effective government.
Vote for DuBose Porter
in the Democratic Primary, July 2010.
in the Democratic Primary, July 2010.
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