ATLANTA - Georgia's top lawyer says the state must hand over $18 million in disputed sales taxes to local governments.
The opinion from Attorney General Thurbert Baker was obtained by The Associated Press. It comes in the midst of a state budget crunch. County officials praised the decision, saying local governments feeling the economic pinch would benefit from the extra cash.
Baker's opinion says about $18 million in sales tax revenues now held by the state rightly belong to county governments. The opinion was sent to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle who sought guidance on the pot of money.
At issue are sales tax revenues which are collected without information needed to disburse them back to the appropriate county.
Yeah, but if they pro-rate the money based on the population of each county, it would be fairer.
Wow, that will buy ten parking meters, or three feet of trolley track!
I say, raise the cigarette tax by $2.00/pck, alcohol tax up 50% and reduce government wages by 15% and then we might be able to keep the real estate taxes down where they belong.
Why only target a group of people to pay for it?? Shouldn't everyone's taxes be increased. Seems really strange to base our future on a dying population (smokers and drinkers).
Oldguy, how about taxing senior citizens too. Yeah, that will teach them for living past a certain point.
Governments should never use taxes to modify behavior. That's called facism. Cutting spending and lowering taxes is the way to go. It isn't easy, but its the only proven way out of this mess.
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