Tax reform requires spending reform
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
By REP. MICKEY CHANNELL Georgia District 116

With more than half of the legislative session now behind us, our days seem to be getting longer as committees meet literally morning and night to perfect important legislation and the number of bills considered by the full House gets longer every day. I believe that tax reform is one of our key initiatives and this week the House Ways and Means Committee approved several tax reform measures. With tax reform must come spending reform and this week we also laid out our spending priorities for the Fiscal Year 2009 budget.

The Speaker's proposal for property tax reform took another step forward this week winning approval of the House Ways and Means Committee. The committee also considered legislation that would designate "franchise fees" as a tax and another bill that would allow local sales tax revenue be spent on capital outlay projects for charter schools. Sup- port for tax reform and tax relief is widespread and debate continues as we seek consensus on the best course of action for Georgia.

With a nearly $22 billion budget and 9.5 million Georgians, our task to balance the needs of the state with conservative fiscal policy is never easy. Funding education, healthcare, public safety and natural resources are our top priorities. And more importantly, the House is committed to fully funding $141 million in austerity cuts in education. We will also fund pay raises for public safety officersand measures to protect our water resources.

As vice chairman of the Appropriations Healthcare Subcommittee, my focus has been on ensuring every Georgian has access to quality healthcare. As a priority in the FY09 budget, we are fully funding Peachcare for our children, community health centers around the state and trauma care. When Georgians are healthy, our state is healthy and that is my goal during our budget process.

I will continue to keep you up to date on our actions as the legislative session progresses. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at my Capitol office. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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