ATLANTA — For years, state legislators have talked about taking a hard look at the 100-plus sales tax exemptions that dot Georgia's tax code, giving various groups a free pass on taxes when they buy equipment, fuel, food and a multitude of other things.
A comprehensive study may be in the offing during the next year. But in this difficult budget climate, it's much more likely that the state Legislature will take an easier route to reform.
Nine sales tax exemptions are up for renewal this year, meaning that they'll go away unless the Legislature votes to keep them. The exemptions benefit food banks, volunteer health clinics, military contractors, back-to-school shoppers, mass transit systems and pig farmers, among others.
The Legislature is poised to let all or most of those nine exemptions die.
"Frankly, because we can't afford them," said state Rep. Larry O'Neal, who chairs the House of Representatives tax-code writing legislative committee.
Those entities would end up paying more in taxes. For the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank in Macon, for example, it would mean another $41,000 or so in costs, director Ronald Raleigh said.
Read the complete story at macon.com