Purpose: Allows the Legislature to set statewide homestead property tax exemptions, aiming to reduce property taxes by limiting assessed value increases.·

Local Control: Enables local political subdivisions to opt in or out of the exemption program.·

Voting Impact: A “yes” vote authorizes new homestead exemptions to lower property taxes for homeowners; a “no” vote leaves current property tax laws unchanged. This amendment would implement a statewide exemption to the local homestead tax that uniformly applies to all counties, local school systems, consolidated governments and municipalities unless they opt out. The statewide exemption would freeze the values of all homesteads in Georgia based on a yearly assessment of consumer price index, meaning that the value of a home would go up the same percentage as the value of a home in a different part of the state. This could be good news for homeowners, who would see only more predictable, inflation-based jumps in their home’s assessed value, but is a blunt instrument that could have certain unintended consequences. Among those, many school systems say their operations could be hurt by dramatic cuts to funding if this were enacted.

The bill contains a procedure for county school systems to opt out of this uniform system of assessment increases. It is unclear how many county systems will attempt to opt out, but I expect some to do so. Like many laws, this proposal contains some potential good (and needed) outcomes and some potentially problematic ones. I voted no in the Senate and plan to vote "NO" on my ballot.

For more perspectives on this law’s potential impacts on the housing markets and school systems, please see:
taxfoundation.org/blog/georgia-property-tax-exemption-amendment-1
parkerpoe.com/news/2024/06/how-georgias-new-statewide-homestead-exemption-law-could

HR 598 amends the constitution to delegate judicial power to the Georgia Tax Court and grants the Tax Court state-wide jurisdiction to address tax-related matters. Judges on the Tax Court will serve a four-year term, are appointed by the Governor, and may be reappointed for unlimited consecutive terms. Any vacancies will be appointed by the Governor.

Georgia Amendment 2 would create a tax court with statewide jurisdiction that would be concurrent with superior courts to address tax-related matters. Right now, the tax tribunal that hears tax cases is in Georgia’s executive branch, so Amendment 2 would establish a court in the judicial system. Judges would be appointed by the governor and approved by state legislative committees.

Currently, the Fulton County Superior Court hears appeals to any tax tribunal cases. This is not ideal, because the superior court is not meant to be an appellate court and does not specialize in tax law. Further, Fulton County Superior Courts have extremely busy dockets, so some feel that having them hear tax tribunal appeals is a burden. The amendment would ensure that the Georgia Court of Appeals would hear an appeal to a tax case decision.

I voted for this amendment in the Senate and plan to vote “YES” on my ballot.

While the claimed purpose of this amendment is to alleviate tax burdens on small businesses by increasing the exemption on personal property fair market value to $20K, I believe legislation should be better targeted to capture small businesses only so that wealthy individuals don't benefit.

It is true that this tax exemption has not been increased since Georgia last raised the maximum threshold for a tangible personal property tax exemption in 2002, when voters passed a referendum to raise the limit from $500 to $7,500.

I voted against this in the Senate and will vote "NO" on my ballot. This amendment is not extremely problematic, but it does allow wealthy people to claim a tax exemption on things like boats, etc. It would also allow certain small businesses (like LLCs) to make tax exempt business purchases as advertised, but in my view, the Legislature could and should pass legislation that is more targeted to capture small businesses and leave out the benefits to people who don’t need it.