If you’ve never been to the Georgia State Capitol while the legislature is in session, you owe it to yourself to do so. It’s a fascinating view of how our government works – beyond the textbook version we’ve all read in school.
Beginning right after the first of each year, the Capitol is a beehive of activity as legislators gather under the gold dome to propose, discuss, and decide the fate of bills that touch many aspects of our lives. A veritable army of credentialed lobbyists and groups of people for whom they advocate swarm the elected officials to plead their cause. School buses of kids roll in, and organizations set up tables and displays, do demonstrations, gather for photo ops, and meet with legislators.
If you talk to people from the visiting groups or their lobbyists, you’ll quickly notice that a common thread runs through just about every single group. They almost all want money. Your money, that is. They all have a story about why their cause needs money, a few million dollars added to what they already get, or why their existing public dollars can’t possibly be cut. In the committee meetings, lobbyists or group executives will pitch those positions or why they deserve a special tax break, subsidy, or cash from the public till.
Georgians for Fair Taxation is one the rare exceptions. We are a volunteer, grass roots organization that supports its meager budget through small contributions from donors and a lot of sweat equity from our members. We do not seek money from the Legislature. We don’t represent a special interest group like a business, an industry, a union, or any cause seeking your money. We’re not asking them to spend a dime on our behalf.
In fact, we’d like all Georgians to get more control over the money they earn by not having it taken from their paychecks or subtracted from their business income. When our tax code taxes consumption rather than work and business success, more companies will be drawn to Georgia and those already here will expand. That creates more jobs, economic growth, and bigger paychecks. That’s our mission, plain and simple. No special breaks, subsidies, or handouts. It’s also a considerably unique request around the Gold Dome. We hope you’ll support that goal!