Q&A on the News

Q: When was the last time the state of Georgia had a tax cut? I know it was done on the federal level. —George Kolter, Austell

A: It depends on the type of tax cut. The Legislature approves tax breaks every year for select businesses and industries, but those don’t necessarily benefit most Georgians.

Efforts to lower the state’s top personal income tax rate of 6 percent have been debated in recent years, but so far, haven’t made it out of the General Assembly.

As the 2017 Georgia Legislature came to a close last March, lawmakers “failed to reach a deal on House Bill 329, which would have lowered the top state income tax rate,” the AJC reported at the time. Among other things, H.B. 329 in its final form would have lowered the personal income tax rate from 6 percent to 5.65 percent in the top bracket.

But that’s the individual income tax rate. The state of Georgia collects revenue from many different tax sources, including the general sales tax, corporate income tax, insurance premium tax, property tax, excise taxes and estate taxes.

The AJC reported last year that there were about “a dozen” tax measures moving through or stalling on the final day of the 2017 Legislature.

“Senators said the Georgia House sent them $588 million worth of tax-credit and tax-cut bills to consider this year,” the AJC reported. “Some got through, some didn’t.”