Newspaper Page Text
4A
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2006
Mcnxstan iiatly djmmrni
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
We're No. 1
Here’s some more good news for
the state. According to a report
released Monday by renowned
economist Arthur Laffer, Georgia’s eco
nomic outlook now ranks first in the
nation.
Not only is that impressive in its own
right but equally moving is the fact that
in 2002 we were ranked 24 th .
Laffer reached his conclusion via the
Laffer Curve, a model which illustrates
the theory that cutting taxes in certain
situations
can lead to
an increase
in economic
activity and
government
revenue. His
annual study
is a seven-cat
egory analy
sis that com
pares state
tax and fiscal
policies.
Georgia’s
success,
Laffer con
cluded, is
credited in
large part “to
its commitment to reducing the tax bur
den on its citizens and businesses over
the past four years.” He also praised
Georgia’s 2005 decision to determine
porporate income taxes based on sales
lalone, a move that he predicts might save
businesses SIOO million annually. (Note:
Last November, Site Selection magazine
also ranked Georgia’s business climate
as the third best in the nation.)
“I am proud of the progress we have
made the over past four years,” said Gov.
Sonny Perdue in the release, “by reduc
ing taxes and strengthening our econo
my. The report reaffirms what Georgians
already know - that Georgia is a great
place to live and do business.”
We in Houston County can certainly
second that. We’ve evidence of strong
growth on almost every street corner
and now there’s significant proof that
maybe we’re on the right track in plenty
of regards.
Did you vote?
Hopefully you did. Hopefully you
realized how monumentally
important it was. You - and we
- began the first step of many in deter
mining what our future will look like in
the process.
Here’s hoping everybody cast their lot
in that regard.
WORTH REPEATING
“We can not subscribe to one law for the weak and
another law for the strong; one law for us, another for
our opponents.”
Dwight David Eisenhower, 1890-1969
34th President of the United States
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Monday through Friday.
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Laffer reached his
conclusion via the Laffer
Curve, a model which
illustrates the theory
that cutting taxes in
certain situations can
lead to an increase in
economic activity and
government revenue.
His annual study is a
seven-category analysis
that compares state tax
and fiscal policies.
Open government doesn't impact
There should be no con
flict with open govern
ment and industrial
recruiting in Georgia.
Many economic develop
ers believe Georgia’s open
records laws hamper their
efforts to bring jobs to their
communities. They cite spe
cific examples of being asked
by industrial prospects to
sign nondisclosure agree
ments when prospects don’t
want their name mentioned
or their interest in moving
a plant known to the public
until they feels it’s proper.
Many feel media intrusion
conflicts with this require
ment.
Economic developers
believe if the interest is
made public too soon, other
states can peer into the
negotiations, find out what
incentives the community is
offering and use this knowl
edge to make counter offers
and steal the industry away.
The economic developers
with whom I have spoken
understand the public has
the right to see what tax
concessions for roads, infra
structure, demographics,
traffic or waste disposal are
offered before the deal is
signed by local governments.
But they want the right to
negotiate in secret and then
make details available to the
public before the up or down
vote by the elected govern
ment agency.
To them, it’s a matter of
timing. Media interests feel
they should be able to report
any government activ
ity, anytime, anywhere. The
recent court battle between
What is effect of new chHd support law?
Dear Mr. Rockefeller,
I have been paying
child support for the
past three years for my two
sons. I was wondering how
this new child support law
I have heard about might
affect me?
Dear Reader, I cannot
answer your question in one
column, so once again, I will
do so in two parts. This is
a good question and any
one receiving or paying child
support should endeavor to
figure out how these changes
might affect their particular
situation.
I suppose the most impor
tant message I can convey
is that the old child sup
port rules no longer exist.
Frankly, I am not entire
ly sure what the rules are
until Jan. 1, 2007, when the
new rules take affect, as the
Georgia Legislature repealed
the old rules as of July 1, and
did nothing to address this
“limbo” period. Presumably,
judges (and juries) will be
guided by the old rules until
Jan. 1, 2007. But, come Jan.
1, 2007, the new rules will
assuredly be used.
These new rules really
look nothing like the old
ones - hence, my strong
suggestion to educate your
self. What they contemplate
is that child support will
be awarded starting with
a rather complicated table
Neely Young
Editor / Publisher
Georgia Trend
Central Atlanta Progress
(CAP) and the Metro Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce
and The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution and the Georgia
Attorney General regarding
bids for the NASCAR Hall
of Fame and the 2009 Super
Bowl brought this issue to
a head.
Last year, the AJC was
denied documents relat
ing to the bids and asked
for a ruling from Attorney
General Thurbert Baker,
who issued an opinion that
the documents should be
made public.
Both institutions, CAP
and the Metro Chamber,
refused and the Attorney
General brought suit. The
issue made its way to the
Georgia Court of Appeals,
which held for Baker. The
court ruled that the purpose
of the Open Records Act
should be broadly construed
to encourage public access.
The court case made it
look like “the media” won a
great victory, and Georgia’s
economic development com
munity lost a major tool for
attracting new industry to
the state. Yet this perception
M I really hate global warming..."
Jim Rockefeller
Columnist
ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com
based on the number of chil
dren and the combined gross
income of both parents.
This table sets a child
“cost” correlating to the
number of children and this
corresponding gross income.
Each parent is presumed to
pay a “pro rata” share for
this presumed cost of rear
ing each child; this share is
calculated from each par
ent’s “pro rata” contribu
tion towards their combined
gross income.
Let’s take a broad exam
ple. Let’s say there are two
children, the mother (the
“custodial” parent) earns
$2,000 per month, and the
father (non-custodial parent)
earns $3,000 per month. In
this case, the parents’ com
bined gross income is $5,000
per month, the mother’s
income is responsible for
two-fifths of this amount (or
40 percent) and the father’s
income is responsible for
1 "
is incorrect. No one won or
lost anything, because the
Open Records Act already
provides exemptions so
developers can negotiate out
of the public eye, and also
it gives public access before
the deal is finalized by local
and state governments.
In the NASCAR case,
the prospect’s identity was
already known, because
this was a highly publicized
competition among several
major U.S. cities. But, if a
local development authority,
or the state’s Department
of Economic Development
wishes to keep the identity of
an industrial prospect secret,
all that’s required under
current practice is that the
prospect not be identified in
any documented record until
the parties wish the identity
to be made public.
Industrial developers have
also taken the approach of
not documenting a prospect’s
actual name, but referring
to it by a color or a number
until it’s time for disclosure.
Industrial prospects can
work with the government
via a third party, such as
an attorney or real estate
i|: ■■
M. • ’IF vS;
1 s I
three-fifths of this amount
(or 60 percent). The child
cost figure from the table
is $1,297 - meaning that
the father would be required
to pay the mother $778.20
per month (60 percent of
this child cost) as a “basic
child support obligation”.
Uninsured medical expenses
would be split on this same
60/40 basis, in addition to
this child support obliga
tion.
Under the old guidelines,
the father would probably
have been required to pay
25 percent of his monthly
income to the mother in
child support, or $750 per
month; typically, the unin
sured medical expenses
would have been split on a
50/50 basis. So, under this
scenario, the father’s child
support obligations would
actually increase a fairly sig
nificant amount.
Let’s flip the numbers (or
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
recruiting
agent, so the principal busi
ness entity ’s name isn’t dis
closed in a document until
time for piiblic approval.
This explanation of the
Georgia Open Records Act
is meant to clear up any
confusion that gives the
impression that the media
is against job formation and
recruitment of industry in
our state. We in the media
want Georgia’s economic
developers to be successful.
We’re cheering them on, and
want to report their suc
cesses.
We live in an open and free
society. Ahy special conces
sions from state and local
governments should be open
to the taxpaying public. The
current law provides eco
nomic developers methods
to keep talks with prospects
private, ahd it also makes
them open to public at a
proper time.
With a few exceptions,
Georgia has prospered and
successfully recruited indus
tries under the current law.
In fact, Atlanta’s loss of the
NASCAR facility had noth
ing to do with open records.
Atlanta lost to Charlotte
before the appeals court
decision.
There should be no con
flict between open govern
ment and industrial recruit
ing. It has not occurred in
the past, and it should not in
the future,
Neely Young is edi
tor in chief and pub
lisher of Georgia Trend.
Contact him via e-mail at
publisher @georgiatrend.
com.
switch custody), so that the
primary Urage earner is also
the custodial parent.
In this case, the non-cus
todial parent’s income is
$2,000 ahd under the old
guidelines, using the 25 per
cent figure, would have been
ordered to pay SSOO per
month in child support. But,
under the new guidelines,
40 percent of $1,297.00 is
$518.80. With a 60/40 split
on uninsured costs, this par
ent probably has almost the
same resiilt under the new
guidelines as before.
There are some other
significant changes to how
child support is determined
in Georgia. Next week, I will
touch on them. Despite the
minimal change shown by
my calculations above, the
affect an.? of these changes
have on a specific family will
vary froiii case-to-case, and
all factors need to be con
sidered.
Warnet Robins attorney
Jim Rockefeller is the for
mer Chief Assistant District
Attorney for Houston County,
and a former Florida State
Attorney. Owner of Rockefeller
Law Cenler, Jim has been in
private practice since 2000.
E-mail your comments or
confidential legal questions
to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.
com.