Ideal for state taxpayers, but state finances suffer

Now that all of the glad-handing and personal congratulations have been spent, Georgia's General Assembly will get down to business for the next 38 days, give or take a day or two or three.

Ideas will flow like rivers until they hit the dams of legislative process. The now dominant Republican Party has tried to streamline the process since reaching power, to be able to more effectively raise or lower the flood gates (see the legislative definition of "hawk"). Still, the process can seem unwieldy and cumbersome, even to those familiar with the process.

State Rep. Mark Burkhalter, R-Alpharetta, has a proposal to drop the ad valorem tax on automobiles. It's one of those items that sounds and feels good as it heads down the river bank. What Georgian wouldn't mind not having a tax bill come due each birthday? Well, the devil resides in the details. While Burkhalter has clout as speaker pro-tem, that only guarantees a fair hearing. The rest of the state legislators will be listening to their home districts' county commissioners for advice on how to proceed.

The initial plan still requires owners to pay vehicle ad valorem taxes. That would assure that counties would still receive their share of the tax. The state would then turn around and send rebate checks to drivers. But it's likely the dam doors will fall on the cost. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Burkhalter estimates that it would cost the state somewhere between $150 million to $250 million. That's a big chunk of cash, but Burkhalter thinks the money could be replaced by either cutting 1 percent or 2 percent of the state's budget (fat chance) or by the growth of state revenues (maybe, maybe not).

Unfortunately there are storm clouds on the horizon that have been headed our way for years, particularly the ever-increasing expenses for health care followed by a huge, looming pension responsibility. Education initiatives, such as Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposal to create graduation counselors at the middle school level, have the potential to eat up ever larger portions of the budget.

Trimming a $16 billion budget one percentage point would be difficult considering the state's growing population and the escalating demands for services. Departments such as the GBI are clamoring for more resources. Local governments are becoming more and more vocal about unfunded mandates.

The ad valorem proposal will undergo numerous changes and amendments, if and when it's adopted. That's the legislative process. And over the course of this session we will be reminded again the words of Otto von Bismarck, the 19th century German statesman: "To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making."