DearSenator:
On behalf of the National TaxpayersUnion’s (NTU)’s nearly 8,300 members in Georgia, I strongly urge you to supportSenate Resolution 20 (SR 20), which would create a limitation on tax andspending increases in the state constitution. SR 20 would provide vitalprotections for overburdened Georgia taxpayers.
For the last few years, Georgia’sfamilies and small businesses have struggled to get by in this down economywith unemployment hovering around ten percent. Meanwhile, the state has deficitsin excess of $1 billion. Georgians are looking to their state government tohelp ease their burden by keeping taxes low and government spending manageable,and to allow the economy to flourish. One of the best ways to ensure that theburden on hard-working Georgians does not increase is to adopt a tax andexpenditure limitation.
SR 20would allow the state’s budget to grow at the rate of increases in inflationplus population from year to year. The bill also provides that any excessrevenue collected would go to funding spending increases in education due to increasesin enrollment and then to shortfall reserve fund, which shall be 15% of theprevious year’s budget. Any remaining excess revenue the rest would be returnedto the taxpayer.
Thefact of the matter is that small government tends to keep tax rates low, whichallows economies to flourish and the quality of life to improve. Smallergovernment also tends to be less burdensome financially. Compare states Indianaand Utah, which have weathered the recession reasonably well, to states likeIllinois and California, which have not. Tax and expenditure limitations likeSR 20 encourage fiscal prudence in government and prioritize spendingdecisions. By prioritizing spending, Georgia will have to make the decisionsabout what it can afford to do rather than doing more than what is in itsmeans, sparing Georgians the hardship of higher taxes.
Georgians arecounting you to look after the interests of taxpayers. Therefore, I urge you tosupport SR 20.
Sincerely,
JohnStephenson
State Government Affairs Manager