Transportation Sales Tax Referendum Failed To Pass
This entry was posted on 4/4/2009 6:43 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
Last night, the 2009 Georgia General Assembly session came to a close, and for the second year in a row, they failed to pass a bill calling for any kind of referendum on a one-cent transportation sales tax.
Regardless of how we may feel about taxes, our elected officials have yet again cheated all Georgia voters out of an opportunity to decide this issue for ourselves.
While I was inclined more toward the idea of the regional approach, I would've been satisfied with the statewide approach, but folks, our elected officials failed us yet again and, regretfully, we have to wait for the 2010 session.
Per the Georgia Constitution, the regular General Assembly session lasts 40 days. However, the Governor is allowed to call a special session for the purpose of deciding specific issues. Constitution of the State of Georgia - Article V. Section II. Paragraph VII. Special sessions of the General Assembly. (a) The Governor may convene the General Assembly in special session by proclamation which may be amended by the Governor prior to the convening of the special session or amended by the Governor with the approval of three-fifths of the members of each house after the special session has convened; but no laws shall be enacted at any such special session except those which relate to the purposes stated in the proclamation or in any amendment thereto.
(b) The Governor shall convene the General Assembly in special session for all purposes whenever three-fifths of the members to which each house is entitled certify to the Governor in writing, with a copy to the Secretary of State, that in their opinion an emergency exists in the affairs of the state. The General Assembly may convene itself if, after receiving such certification, the Governor fails to do so within three days, excluding Sundays.
(c) Special sessions of the General Assembly shall be limited to a period of 40 days unless extended by three-fifths´ vote of each house and approved by the Governor or unless at the expiration of such period an impeachment trial of some officer of state government is pending, in which event the House shall adjourn and the Senate shall remain in session until such trial is completed.
If I were Governor, I would take the issue of transportation funding and tell them to get their butts back to the "Gold Dome" this summer, making it perfectly clear that no one (and mean NO ONE) goes home until they pass a bill to allow Georgia's voters to have the final say on the transportation sales tax. In fact, I urge Governor Sonny Perdue to exercise this power as per Georgia's Constitution, for both he and the General Assembly IMHO are obligated to let us decide this once and for all.
To contact Governor Perdue and urge him to call back the General Assembly to decide this issue, please click here.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please come back often.
5/2/2009 3:52 AM
adf wrote:
The only reason some are pushing this is that the Republicans have painted themselves into a corner with their unyielding opposition to any tax increase for any reason ever. Like it or not, that's the only thing that's going to help.
The reality is that a) costs for road construction/maintenance are rising much more rapidly than tax revenues due to high steel/concrete costs, b) people are at once both buying more fuel-efficient cars & driving less, and c) we have nothing but an exceptionally low gas tax, which increasingly is ineffective as a result of 'a' and 'b.'
If they do pass this, I will certainly vote 'no' on it. Not because I don't think we need the funding -- I absolutely do. But since moving to Georgia, I have seen nothing but one attempt after another to shift the tax burden to the lower- and middle-classes, and I've had enough. It's up to the legislators to do their jobs and come up with some new & practical ways of coming up with the money. They don't want to do anything themselves lest they be accused of voting for tax increases -- that's the gist of it. But don't do anything, & I'm more likely to vote against them because they've proven themselves failures. Reply to this
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