RN-T.com – Report suggests political costs of cutting income taxes

ATLANTA – A report released this morning highlights the political challenges to Republican proposals to reduce or eliminate the state income tax.

The study by an Atlanta think tank geared toward increase spending on social programs, the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, warns that any increase in the sales tax to offset income-tax reductions will boost the burden on 80 percent of Georgians.

A Georgia Tech economist who advocates a diminished income tax, Christine Ries, dismisses the report’s conclusions as being skewed by biased data.

Wesley Tharpe, the institute’s policy analyst who authored the report, said since low-income people spend a greater share of their income then boosting the tax on their spending will hit them harder.

“Changing the balance of taxes and how much the state relies on each kind of tax shifts the burden,” he said.

Ries counters that higher-income people spend more money. They may pay a smaller share of their income on consumer purchases, but it amounts to more money.

via RN-T.com – Report suggests political costs of cutting income taxes.