Gov. Brian Kemp vowed Wednesday to fulfill a pledge he made on the campaign trail by doubling down on a tax rebate the General Assembly passed last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kemp, who won reelection in November, told Georgia business and political leaders he will seek another $1 billion state income tax rebate. In addition to that, he will propose a second $1 billion rebate of property taxes Georgians pay to their local governments, which should result in a check of about $500 to each taxpayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is one-time property tax relief,\u201d the governor said during the annual Eggs & Issues breakfast the Georgia Chamber of Commerce sponsors during the first week of each legislative session. \u201cThat will help working families offset property taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s round of tax relief would come from a huge $6.6 billion budget surplus the state has built up in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInstead of spending [the surplus] on big government programs \u2026 we\u2019re going to put it back in [taxpayers\u2019] pockets,\u201d Kemp said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kemp, who will be sworn in for a second term on Thursday, touted his administration\u2019s economic accomplishments during his first four years in office, including nearly $50 billion in investment that has created 130,000 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest jobs announcement came Wednesday morning when Korean solar panel manufacturer Hanwha Qcells unveiled plans to invest $2.5 billion to expand an existing manufacturing plant in Dalton and build a new facility in Cartersville. The expansion is expected to create 2,500 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like the Qcells announcement, many economic development projects the state landed during Kemp\u2019s first term are generating jobs in rural Georgia. Last year alone, rural communities received an injection of $8.67 billion. Nearly all of those new jobs will pay more than the average salary in the affected county, Kemp said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have economic opportunity no matter where you live,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kemp\u2019s tax rebate proposals are sure to get pushback from legislative Democrats and public policy groups that argue the state should use the budget surplus to improve the quality of education and health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cModest, one-time payments to tax filers and property owners may provide some short-term relief,\u201d said Danny Kanso, senior fiscal analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. \u201cBut the state must do more to make long-lasting investments in our people by centering benefits on those experiencing the greatest levels of hardship \u2013 low- and middle-income Georgians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other side of the political spectrum, Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said the state should accelerate a reduction in income tax rates set to take effect next year rather than lean on one-time tax relief measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The breakfast audience at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta also heard from newly elected Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and state Rep. Jon Burns, elected by House members Monday to succeed the late David Ralston as speaker of the Georgia House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jones said one of his top priorities will be lending support to Kemp\u2019s plans to crack down on street gangs and repeat violent offenders.
\u201cWhen people don\u2019t feel safe about the environment they\u2019re In, that\u2019s bad for business,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burns said he will seek to build on Ralston\u2019s signature accomplishment from last year\u2019s General Assembly session, passage of a comprehensive overhaul of Georgia\u2019s mental health-care delivery system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a one-year deal,\u201d Burns said of the 2022 mental health bill. \u201cWe will continue to build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burns also announced he will create an oversight committee in the House to coordinate the work several standing committees have been doing to improve the quality of health care in Georgia. Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, who has focused much of his work in the House on health policy, will chair the new committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wednesday\u2019s Eggs & Issues breakfast included a video tribute to Ralston, who died in November after serving a dozen years as House speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n[mailerlite_form form_id=32]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gov. Brian Kemp vowed Wednesday to fulfill a pledge he made on the campaign trail by doubling down on a tax rebate the General Assembly passed last year. Kemp, who won reelection in November, told Georgia business and political leaders he will seek another $1 billion state income tax rebate. In addition to that, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[8484,12168,12077],"class_list":["post-46251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-brian-kemp","tag-state","tag-tax-rebate","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}