This year’s legislative session was very productive as we passed a number of bills that were high on my priority list. Many of these bills will have a direct, positive financial impact on all Georgians as they lowered state income tax, increased the child tax exemption, doubled the homestead exemption and put a statewide cap on property tax. You can see the list of my priorities in the image at the bottom of this post.
At the end of the session I was photographed shaking hands with House Speaker Jon Burns. I never thought any more about it until it appeared up front in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The article below the photo noted that during this session we prioritized bills that cut taxes, stoked political emotions and touched voters’ lives in some ways. While the AJC reporters noted that the Republican majority pushed practical spending bills, they also pointed out that Democrats were outnumbered and outvoted and unable to pass their longtime top goal of Medicaid expansion.
That issue will surely come up again next session and it’s unfortunate that it has become so divisive. Like most of my Republican colleagues, I’d like to explore our options for helping low income Georgians people secure medical treatment. But I can’t support a financially irresponsible program that hits taxpayers where it hurts.
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