NTU Praises Georgia Gov. Perdue for Reversing Property Tax Hike; Vows Continued Fight Against Higher Alcohol and Tobacco Taxes

2/3/2003

From: Al Cors or Pete Sepp, 703-683-5700 both of the National Taxpayers Union

ALEXANDRIA, VA, Feb. 3 -- Today the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), representing 335,000 members nationwide and over 8,000 members in Georgia, praised Governor Sonny Perdue for his decision to back away from property tax increases, but promised continued steadfast opposition to his proposed alcohol and tobacco tax increases.

"While the turnaround on raising property taxes is a welcome change of direction, Governor Perdue's relentless drive to rip off Georgia taxpayers with huge tax hikes on alcohol and tobacco must also be reversed," said Al Cors, Jr., NTU's vice president for government affairs. "The budget should be balanced with cuts in spending, and in a state where spending has doubled in the last decade, that shouldn't be as hard as special interests would lead Georgians to believe."

"Adding $.50 per bottle of distilled spirits is sheer piracy," Cors noted. "So too are the Governor's added levies of $.15 per bottle of wine and $.14 more per bottle of beer. The five-fold cigarette tax increase is truly absurd, with the regressive tax hitting low-income Georgians the hardest," he added.

"With numerous studies indicating that one or two drinks daily can be beneficial to one's health, the higher distilled spirit, wine, and beer levies are totally mislabeled as 'sin taxes,'" Cors argued. "And with federal, state, and local taxes already accounting for more than half of the cost of distilled spirit products, the outcome of additional taxes heaped on top of the present high rates could well be lower state revenues and lost jobs."

"Unfairly targeting legal products and raising taxes during hard economic times simply doesn't make sense," Cors concluded. "Georgia businesses and families have had to tighten their belts and make cuts in spending -- they should expect nothing less of their state government."

NTU is a non-profit, non-partisan citizen organization founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and accountable government at all levels. The group's research affiliate recently published a study for citizens and policymakers on state deficit problems entitled, Solutions to the States' Budget Ills. This report, along with other information on NTU, is available online at http://www.ntu.org.