Georgia Speaker proposes tax overhaul bill for the state

David Ralston's bill would create one tax rate across the board and raise the standard deduction

March 1, 2022

Collins Parker,

ATLANTA, Georgia (WDEF) – Georgia House Speaker David Ralston announced a bill to change the state’s tax rate.

He says it would lower Georgia maximum income tax rate from 5.75% to a flat rate of 5.25%.

The Speaker says along with other changes in the bill, it would save Georgians about $1 billion a year.

If passed, it would go into affect in the year 2024.

Critics say the “flat tax” idea would shift the burden of taxes from the wealthy to lower wage earners.

Speaker Ralson says “Lowering taxes will let families keep more of their hard-earned money.”

The bill would also create a standard exemption of $12,000 for single or head of household filers and $24,000 for married couples.

“In these times when Washington is letting inflation skyrocket, it is up to us to keep our state government lean and help Georgians when the cost of everything is rising. I am proud that this will mark the third time as Speaker that I will preside over the passage of a tax cut – another step in our continuing efforts to lower taxes for Georgia families.”

But a tax analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute says the “flat tax” eliminates any benefits from raising the standard deduction for low and middle income families.

“The recent volatility in Georgia’s revenue collections that only months ago forced billions in budget cuts demonstrates the necessity of preserving our state’s ability to fund health care and public education without overtaxing low- and middle-income families, who are disproportionately people of color. With a new tax proposal, lawmakers offer a dangerous “flat tax” policy that would rely on tax increases on low- and middle-income Georgians to offset massive tax cuts that almost exclusively benefit the highest earners.”

— Danny Kanso, GBPI Senior Tax and Budget Policy Analyst

He would rather see lawmakers rebalance the tax code by ditching their flat tax idea and instead cap corporate breaks, raise the tabacoo tax to the national rate and create an Earned Income Tax Credit.