When Georgia voters go to the polls in this year’s midterm election, they will be asked to vote yes or no on four questions. However, most voters will likely never have heard or seen these questions before stepping into the polling booth.
Here’s our breakdown of this year’s proposed constitutional amendments and referendums.
question one
“Should the Georgia Constitution be amended to suspend the compensation of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, principal, commissioner of insurance, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of labor, or any member of the general assembly while that person is after a felony charge suspended from office?
Under current Georgian law, elected officials can continue to receive their state salary after being charged with a crime and suspended.
That happened in 2019.
State Senator Larry Walker said such was the case for former insurance commissioner Jim Beck, who was suspended in 2019 but still received a state salary until 2021 when he was found guilty of a range of crimes including theft, fraud and money laundering.
“We were effectively paying two insurance commissioner salaries for probably a year and a half, maybe two years, at an additional cost to Georgia taxpayers of $300,000 to $400,000,” said Walker, a Perry Republican. “And I thought that was pretty rude.”
If the yes votes prevail on question one, this situation would be prevented from happening again.
Some argue that under the 14th Amendment principle the measure should fail “innocent until proven guilty”.
Walker says if an elected official is acquitted of the crimes, his salary would be restored.
question two
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to provide that the governmental agency of each county, municipality and consolidated government and the board of education of each independent and county school system in that state shall have the authority to grant temporary tax relief on real estate within its jurisdiction that is acquired as a result of a severely damaged or destroyed in a disaster and located in a federally designated disaster area?”
Under current Georgian law, a federally declared disaster can destroy your home and you will still be taxed at the value it had before the destruction.
That happened in 2021.
Tornadoes swept through several counties southwest of Atlanta in March, and then cities, counties, and school boards mailed out tax bills.
Newnan City manager Cleatus Phillips said current state law left him no choice but to tax properties at their appraised value as they were at the beginning of each year.
“And we had several properties that were completely destroyed or significantly damaged that had to be demonstrated. They should be assessed under state law with a property tax bill as the value of their home or building that was there in January, but yet it’s gone,” Phillips said.
If the yes votes on question two win, local governments could temporarily adjust property taxes after a disaster.
Legislation would need to be empowered to specify how tax authorities should respond after a disaster.
question three
“Should the law be approved that grants a statewide exemption from all ad valorem taxes on certain equipment used by timber producers in the production or harvesting of timber?”
According to current state law, family farms are exempt from value added tax for many of their devices.
Andres Villegas of the Georgia Forestry Association said lumber producers wanted voters to tell the state that lumber producers should have the same heavy equipment tax exemptions as farmers.
“It’s really important for us,” said Villegas. “In Georgia we plant between 200 and 300 million trees every year. We also harvest many trees to ensure our forests stay healthy. For all the equipment we use in this process, this will help us ensure we keep this industry healthy.”
question four
“Should the law be approved that extends a statewide exemption from value taxes on farm equipment and certain farm products held by certain businesses to businesses that include two or more family farms, and that adds dairy products and unfertilized eggs? Poultry as qualifying agricultural products with regard to such an exemption?”
As with the previous question, this concerns the exemption from the ad valorem tax. Currently, family farms are exempt from paying taxes on most of their equipment.
But Jake Tench of the Georgia Agribusiness Council said the exemption ends if they merge with another family-owned farm.
“And a lot of those are existing farms that can’t justify a new million-dollar cotton picker or combine or whatever,” Tench said. “So they’re going to be able to partner with another family business and buy this equipment together so they can still operate in today’s economy.”
Answer yes to question 4 if you think farms should get the shared machinery tax credit.
What is the budget impact?
Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved all of this year’s constitutional amendments and referendums — but without much study of their financial implications.
Danny Kanso of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute said it’s particularly difficult to justify tax exemptions that would potentially cost state and local governments millions of dollars without a thorough estimate of the costs and benefits.
“There is a provision that actually requires what is called a Fiscal Note in which the General Assembly experts working for the state would estimate the cost of this program to the best of their ability,” Kanso said. “Unfortunately, that was not done in this case. So voters will not have all the information they would need.”
Regardless of how much they know about these issues before they cast their ballot, Georgia voters have the final say on Election Day, November 8.
