Earned Income Tax Credit^

State EITC: No

News/Notes: Georgia has a low-income tax credit for individuals with an income below $20,000. That credit does not require filers to have worked or earned income in order to qualify. The credit was refundable until 2010, when Governor Sonny Perdue signed HB 1069.

In 2011, Georgia’s legislature considered a massive tax system overhaul that would have eliminated the income tax and replaced it with a broader sales tax. That overhaul also would have eliminated its low-income tax credit and dependent care credit. In the last days of the legislative session, this debate was pushed to 2012, in part because analyses showed that it would raise taxes on the middle class while giving large tax cuts to the rich.

In 2012 Georgia did enact tax reform, but left the low income tax credit untouched.

As of 2015, State Democrats are pushing for a minimum wage increase and looking into the possibility of using revenue from a sales tax hike to fund enactment of a state EITC.

Reports/Materials: A Bottom-Up Tax Cut to Build Georgia’s Middle Class: The Case for a State Earned Income Tax Credit, Wesley Tharpe, Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, August 2015

State of Working Georgia 2014, Wesley Tharpe, Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, August 2014

Tax Shift Plans Threaten Georgia’s Future, Wesley Tharpe, Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, August 2013

Pro-Family Tax Credits Help Guard Georgia’s Military Families from Poverty, Wesley Tharpe, The Gerogia Budget & Policy Institute, July 2013

Georgia State & Local Taxes, from Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, January 2013

Georgia: State and Local Taxes in 2007, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, November 2009

“Idea 4: Enact a State EITC,” Sarah Beth Coffey and Alan Essig, Center for a Better South, Doing Better: Progressive Tax Reform for the American South, June 2006

Articles: Tax Schemes Could Slam Average Folks: Q&A with Alan Essig, Executive Director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, January 17, 2007

Child Tax Credit^

State Credit: No

Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit^

State Credit: Yes

Refundable: No

Eligibility: Same as Federal

Formula: 30 percent of the federal child and dependent tax credit up to $315 for one child and $630 for two more more children.

Notes/News: Georgia’s credit passed both houses of the state legislature unanimously and was signed in to law by Governor Perdue in 2006. In TY 2008, 246,509 Georgians claimed over $39 million through the program.¹

In 2011, Georgia’s legislature considered a massive tax system overhaul that would have eliminated the income tax and replaced it with a broader sales tax. That overhaul would have also eliminated their low-income tax credit and dependent care credit. In the last days of the legislative session, this debate was pushed to 2012, in part because analyses showed that it would raise taxes on the middle class while giving large tax cuts to the rich.

In 2012 Georgia did enact tax reform , but left the child and dependent care expense credit untouched.

Property Tax Circuit Breaker^

Circuit Breaker: No

News/Notes: While Georgia does not have a circuit breaker program, it does offer a homestead exemption and credit and tax deferral,but they are not based on a filer’s ability-to-pay property taxes.

Reports/Materials: “Idea 9: Enact a Property Tax Circuit Breaker,” Sarah Beth Coffey and Alan Essig, Center for a Better South, Doing Better: Progressive Tax Reform for the American South, June 2006