A Circus of Evil Clowns
The circus is back intown, and by the circus of course, we mean the Georgia General Assembly.
This year is all about the prevent defense. The focus has to be on stopping stupid ideas from getting through. As you may have heard, several of these are “Let’s completely revamp our tax system proposals!”
Basically, Glen Richardson wants to eliminate locally assessed property taxes and eliminate the sales tax exemption on food and other essentials. The state would then dole out the money to each school district according to what it thinks the local needs, rather than letting the locals decide for themselves. Of course anyone who lives in a city should be screaming bloody murder against this because if the state legislature controls the money, Atlanta and environs will suffer in favor of South Georgia.
Further, anyone who is a true small government conservative should be screaming too as this takes power directly away from citizens and local governments and puts it directly in the hands of a larger one.
Here’s the danger with this plan however. Even though it likely will not pass, it will provide cover for lots of other crazy
legislation to get through. That’s where everyone has to be vigilant. Forget Richardson, he’ll be stopped. Look for what this is going to cover.
Will the governor continue to prevent spending on education from matching inflation? He has been quietly doing this since 2003. Will the legislature continue to support big road bills will specific toll lanes? Will the legislature pass a bill on water
conservation which sounds good but does not have any real teeth or conservation, but simply a tax break for contractors?
In large part, it’s up to you. The more vigilant you are and the more you get in touch with your legislator, the less garbage will get through. Pay Attention and get involved or come July you could find yourself with an employee with a right to carry a gun in your shop but no way to pay for your school.