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Politics
20 August 2025

Georgia Lawmakers Weigh Eliminating State Income Tax

A high-stakes debate unfolds as Republicans push to end Georgia’s income tax, sparking warnings from Democrats and experts over funding and fairness.

Georgia’s political landscape is abuzz with debate as lawmakers take the first concrete steps toward potentially eliminating the state’s personal income tax, a move that could reshape the Peach State’s finances, business climate, and the daily lives of millions. The conversation, which kicked off in earnest on August 19, 2025, has quickly become one of the most watched—and contentious—policy battles as the 2026 election looms on the horizon.

At the heart of the push is Republican Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who currently chairs the Senate Special Committee on Eliminating Georgia’s Income Tax and is running for governor with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. Jones set the tone at the committee’s inaugural meeting, declaring, “If we want to continue to stay competitive in the state of Georgia and continue to be the No. 1 state to do business, we’ve got to be looking for ways to keep us competitive and make it where we have a competitive advantage over states that we are competing with all the time,” as cited by the Associated Press.

This sentiment is echoed by many in the Republican ranks, who see the elimination of income tax as a way to attract businesses and residents, especially as neighboring states like Florida and Tennessee already boast no personal income tax. According to the Tax Foundation, eight states in total—including Florida and Tennessee—have already scrapped income taxes, while others like North Carolina and Louisiana are actively reducing theirs.

But the road ahead is anything but straightforward. Georgia’s income tax is a financial linchpin, expected to generate $20 billion in 2026—close to half of the state’s total revenue, per the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. Personal income taxes alone account for 41.6% of the state’s revenue for the 2026 fiscal year, with corporate income tax pushing that figure to just over 50%, as reported by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and Georgia Recorder. In 2024, personal income tax collections reached $16.2 billion, underscoring the scale of the fiscal challenge.

Republican State Senator Blake Tillery, who chairs the committee and is also running for lieutenant governor, made clear that while the goal is set, the path is far from mapped out. “We know that the goal ahead of us, we know what the goal is, the mechanics on how we get there are really the impetus and the purpose for this committee,” he told colleagues, according to Atlanta News First. He added, “We have intelligent committee members here who can help guide that way in a prudent manner and making sure that we’re not cutting Georgia’s core missions of education, public safety, infrastructure and, of course, healthcare.”

Despite the bold ambitions, the committee has yet to offer specifics on how to replace the billions in lost revenue. This ambiguity has fueled concerns from Democrats and some fiscal experts, who warn of potentially dire consequences for state services and Georgia’s most vulnerable residents. Democratic Senator Nan Orrock voiced her apprehension, asking, “How do you square reducing our state revenues with the needs that we have as a state, and the unknown needs that are going to happen as higher ed and K-12 [and] enormous cuts that are coming down from [the federal government]?” as reported by Georgia Recorder.

Orrock’s concerns are shared by others on the left. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Michael Thurmond cautioned that relying more heavily on sales tax to fill the revenue gap would disproportionately impact lower-income Georgians, as sales taxes are widely considered regressive. “If we rely more on the sales tax, then we must take steps because a sales tax is regressive and consequently the burden of that would rest on the shoulders of those who are on the lower end of the economic scale,” Thurmond told Atlanta News First. Senator Ed Harbison, a Democratic committee member, urged a cautious approach: “Let’s make sure we’ve got everything anchored in place to make sure that we can take care of our obligations to the citizens of the state of Georgia before we go down that road.”

Fiscal analysts have also weighed in, with Danny Kanso of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute warning that eliminating the income tax could require tripling the state sales tax and expanding it to new products, resulting in a “massive” tax increase for most households. “The proposal would have to increase taxes on far more Georgians than it would reduce taxes on, and so it’s a little bit of a solution in search of a problem that would likely cause ripples all across the state and across the economy as well,” Kanso said, according to Georgia Recorder.

On the other side of the debate stands Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leading figure in the national anti-tax movement. Norquist, the only witness at the committee’s first hearing, argued that Georgia could eliminate its 5.19% income tax rate without raising sales taxes, pointing to states like Florida where increased population and business investment have bolstered revenues even without income tax. “When you attract more people into the state and more business into the state and more investment into the state, you end up with both more money for individuals earning it, but also more tax revenue at lower rates,” Norquist testified. He added that states like North Carolina have managed to lower income tax rates while still seeing revenue growth.

Norquist did, however, caution against moving too quickly. “Five years would be very aggressive,” he said. “Ten to 15 years, much easier to do.” His optimism, though, was met with skepticism from local experts. Kanso dismissed the idea that economic growth alone could fill the gap, calling it “wishful thinking” and noting, “[It] doesn’t really make sense when you hear we’re going to lower taxes, eliminate sources of revenue, and somehow we’re also going to raise more money. That’s not something we’ve really seen work in the past.”

Republicans, for their part, argue that the benefits of income tax cuts have already been significant for Georgians. Governor Brian Kemp signed a law in 2025 providing income tax rebates of up to $500 and reducing the rate to 5.19% for income earned in 2025, with a long-term goal of reaching 4.99% as early as next year. The state has also moved from a tiered tax bracket system to a flat tax and has paid out rebates in recent years, returning $6 billion to taxpayers, as reported by Atlanta News First.

But critics note that the benefits of these measures have flowed disproportionately to the wealthy. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that two-thirds of the income tax cut benefits went to the highest-earning 20% of Georgians. Republicans counter that this is a natural outcome, as most Georgians in the lowest 20% are largely exempt from state income taxes.

Democratic candidates haven’t ruled out targeted tax relief. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, for example, has floated the idea of eliminating income tax for public schoolteachers but opposes scrapping the tax entirely, citing concerns about school funding and higher costs for lower-income families.

As the debate rages on, the committee—comprising eight Republicans and three Democrats—is set to meet several more times before making recommendations in December. The stakes are high, and the path forward remains uncertain. Will Georgia join the ranks of the no-income-tax states, or will the risks prove too great? For now, the only certainty is that the conversation is far from over, and the outcome will have lasting implications for every Georgian.