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THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2007 -- PAGE 11A — Richardson Pitches Sales-Tax-For-Property-Tax Swap To Kiwanis Club Cont. from Page 1A “The theory of regressivity says if you happen to have not worked hard or not made the right deci sions in life, you shouldn’t have to pay taxes,” he complained. “(That) the only people who should pay taxes are the people who made good business deci sions so they make more than the poverty level.” While he said his ultimate goal is to replace all property taxes with a 6.5 percent sales tax cov ering all goods and services, the large negative reaction to the plan has led Richardson to propose a multi-year phase-in. That, he said, would start by removing the exemptions on sales taxes for groceries, services and lottery tickets. “If we tax groceries at the four percent rate, lottery tickets at four percent and services at four per cent, those three things alone — the very first year we can end all school taxes on homesteaded properties in the state of Georgia. One point nine million homeowners can see their tax bills reduced.” Ultimately he said, the process would eliminate all property taxes, replac ing them with a sales tax. What he did not mention at his Kiwanis presenta tion is that somewhere in the process the four-percent state wide sales tax would be upped to 6.5 percent — and local sales taxes, which are three percent in most areas, would still be levied. Richardson was short to the point of rude to those who ques tioned his proposition. When Dr. Clark Hill, a local physician, pointed out the complexities of charging a sales tax for an office business when he has no way of knowing for weeks what the charge would be, Richardson’s response was that “just like every other person, you adapt to the tax laws.” Scott Martin asked Richardson to state whether he would penal ize those representatives who oppose the bill. “Absolutely,” he said. “If you don’t support me, I’m not going to elect you to office.” Then he asked Martin “What do you do for a living?” saying he wanted to “know the pretext for the question you ask. If you’re get ting a check from a governmen tal entity, you’re going to resist change.” Martin, an employee of Jackson EMC and chairman of the Jackson County Industrial Development Authority, told Richardson that his slide presentation and com ments had not provided a lot of information as to how the change would affect residents. “I want to know what it’s going to cost me ... I want to know how much I’m going to be paying in sales tax,” he said. “Then you can vote against it,” Richardson snapped. “That’s exactly right,” Martin countered. “If you want to give a speech, sir, I’ll be glad to give you this podium,” Richardson groused. “I can spend 14 hours going over all these numbers ... I’ve got reams of paper on this subject; I will never be able to tell it in a presentation. It’s about a concept. Do you want to go through a system that pays on land or pays on consumption? If you want change, vote ‘yes,’ if you want to keep it the same, vote ‘no.’” While phasing in the transition to a sales tax, Richardson also proposes freezing the assess ments on every homesteaded property in Georgia and allow ing assessments to increase a maximum of one percent a year. He would cap the “growth of local government” to the rate of the governmental consumer price index “plus population increase,” unless voters approve increases by referendum, and allow taxpayers to appeal their tax bills (the only appeals now are at the time of assessment notices). “It is a litmus test for whether you want change in Georgia,” Richardson declared. As for concerns that schools would have insufficient revenue during economic hard times, Richardson brushed it off. “Bad times for people, bad times for government,” he explained. “Good times for people, good times for government — that’s when you do things.” He blew off complaints from school superintendents about housing kids in trailers. “I went to a school that didn’t have air conditioning,” he said. “You don’t live beyond your means.” Richardson termed predictions of revenue shortfalls and eco nomic difficulties from his “The GREAT Plan” as “hocus-pocus-the- sky-is-falling.” “If people don’t spend money, this country is going to fail any way,” Richardson said. “This is not rocket science. The world looks at us and says ‘how does this econ omy work?’ We’re the envy of the world because we buy and spend like there’s no tomorrow.” Details of the plan — including all the charts he showed to the Kiwanis Club—canbe found online at TheGREATplanforgeorgia.com. Rep. Glenn Richardson HR 900 Dominates Chamber's 'Eggs And Issues' Breakfast It was billed as the annual “eggs and issues” breakfast meeting of the Jackson County Area Cham ber of Commerce, a time at which local politicians would discuss the expected issues of the 2008 ses sion of the General Assembly. For all practical purposes, there was but one issue — Rep. Glenn Richardson’s House Resolution 900 — an attempt to eliminate property taxes in Georgia in ex change for a greatly expanded sales tax. It fell largely to Sen. Ralph Hud gens to explain the bill. Hudgens, Reps. Tommy Benton and Tom McCall, and Hunter Bicknell, chairman of the county water and sewerage authority, shared time at the podium. Hudgens declared that there will Sen. Ralph Hudgens be two major issues: “taxes and wa ter.” As for HR 900, he said, “If you Rep. Tommy Benton heard about it two or three days ago, it’s changed,” a reference to Rep. Tom McCall the constantly-evolving proposal by Richardson. Hunter Bicknell Benton indicated to the group that he has yet to decide whether to support the bill, saying “I will wait for the final version.” But Ben ton told the chamber members it was the duty of the General As sembly to “talk about new ideas.” “We don’t need to keep doing business the same way. We need to try new ideas” to “finance the things we want,” he said, “adding that “there’s never going to be enough money” to cover all of the issues before the General Assem bly. The most recent version of HR 900 would remove local property taxes as a means of financing Georgia schools. Currently, the General Assembly funds about half of the cost of educating chil dren, and local property taxes pro- Please Turn to Page 12A Pictures y£|l Equipment, Inc 10963 GA Hwy 106 • Carnesvliie ga 30521 706-384-5555 Santa shops at Giftworks for his Webkinz gifts! We have everything you need to make Christmas morning fun for your little one! 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