US: Georgia legislators prepare deep budget cuts

[Hannah Bell]

Faced with an estimated increase in the budget deficit of over $1 billion for the 2011 fiscal year beginning July 1, Georgia state legislators are preparing to impose widespread cuts in education, transportation and health care, all of which are to be borne by the state’s working class, students and the poor...

For the upcoming financial year, the Georgia university system has been asked to make an additional $300 million in cuts on top of an already scheduled $265 million reduction...

Similarly, the taxpayer subsidized MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) public transportation system is also facing steep cutbacks due to its current $120 million deficit. Several bus routes are to be eliminated altogether and service on many other routes severely curtailed...

The Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled has suffered a $489 million cut, a 23 percent reduction from 2009...Revenue collection for the first six months of the current fiscal year is already down by 12.9 percent, with income tax collection down 12.3 percent, sales tax collection down 13.7 percent, and corporate taxes down 16.5 percent. Because of this, the governor has proposed a reduction of $1.2 billion in the planned outlays of $17.4 billion for Medicaid for the fiscal 2010 budget...

The Georgia state legislature, dominated by extreme-right elements, will not consider any tax increases for the wealthy. With Georgia’s five billionaires worth a combined $18 billion, a progressive tax on their wealth and income at an appropriate rate could easily fill the state’s budget gap for the foreseeable future...

Georgia’s income tax structure is so backward that when scrutinized appears to be a relic of the past. There are only five income tax brackets, with the lowest bracket for annual incomes of up to $750. People with incomes at this level must pay 1 percent in taxes, and the tax is increased by 1 percent for each tax bracket thereafter, reaching the highest rate of 6 percent for incomes of more than $7,001. Thus people making an income of slightly over $7,000 pay the same percentage rate in income taxes as persons making tens of millions of dollars.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/geor-m09.shtml

[marmar]

1. "all of which are to be borne by the state’s working class, students and the poor"

Always are.