By Chris Sweigart
Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) - Governor Perdue said today that he isn't sold yet on House Speaker Glenn Richardson's plan to eliminate property taxes in Georgia.Associated Press
Email to a Friend
Stumble It!Perdue said he hasn't seen convincing information about what would replace the roughly $10 billion a year the state receives from property tax revenues.
The governor said the loss of local control is a key concern with the speaker's plan. Local governments and schools depend heavily on property taxes.
Drawing a parallel, Perdue said he wouldn't like it if leaders in Washington wanted to take sales tax revenues from Georgia to bail out other states in financial difficulty.
But Perdue said he had met with Arthur Laffer, the economist who is crafting the House plan, and is interested in hearing more and continuing to crunch the numbers.
Perdue butted heads with Richardson during the last legislative session when he vetoed a one-time property tax rebate championed by House Republicans. But Perdue said today that relations with Richardson are "better than ever." The governor said he met with Richardson, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and other legislative budget writers yesterday to talk about the budget.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)