By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – The Georgia Senate Study Committee to Eliminate Georgia’s Income Tax will likely meet one more time before the legislative session, a Senate spokesperson said.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones established the committee in July. It was scheduled for abolishment on Dec. 15, but was extended, the spokesperson told The Center Square.
The committee has not met since Nov. 17 or specified how the state could make up $16 billion in revenue that the state income tax provides. Jones said in a commentary published Dec. 9 that property taxes could be part of the plan.
“We need a dual approach that phases out the income tax while enacting reforms that control property tax growth and bring much needed transparency,” Jones said in the commentary. “School boards and counties shouldn’t get a free ride on rising home values and should be transparent and responsible when they raise taxes on hardworking homeowners.”
Committee Chairman Blake Tillery said that a bill to eliminate the income tax will be introduced during the 2026 session of the General Assembly but did not provide specifics.
“We haven’t heard from any of the proponents how they would actually pay for this and so it’s very difficult to have a full conversation with that central detail missing,” said Dr. Daniel Kanso, director of legislative strategy and senior fiscal analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy and author of the report, in an interview with The Center Square.
Democrats have said previously that they are concerned about what would happen if the income tax is eliminated.
“This handout will make raising a family, buying a house or running a business more expensive, said Sens. Nan Orrock, D–Atlanta and Ed Harbison, D–Columbus, who are members of the Senate study committee. “At the end of the day, they’re making the affordability crisis worse and saying they’re doing you a favor.”
