UPSON TAX COMMISSIONER FAVORS HB 581

 Shedding light on HB 581:

HB 581, an amendment to property tax legislation, will be on the ballot in November’s election. It’s also known as the “Save Our Homes Act” and it addresses longstanding issues with local property taxes and would go into effect on Jan. 1st, 2025 should it pass. It’s part of an effort to lower property tax costs for Georgia families in response to the major increase in property values we saw in 2022 & 2023. It will particularly help homestead property owners by limiting increases in home value to 3% each year. Want to emphasize, this applies to homestead property only. However, the County & City governing authorities have a one- time opt-out clause in this amendment which they will have choose to do so by March 1st of next year. Why would they choose to do so? Because the 3% limit increase on homestead property value would cut into property tax revenue for their budget needs which could possibly result in a millage increase to make up for the loss of tax revenue. But another major component of this bill will give the governing authorities an option of not having to go up on the millage rate to make up for that loss. It will give them the opportunity to add a 1 cent sales tax for the purposes of rolling back on property tax, which in my opinion is a great thing. Last year, we rolled off just over $5 million between the County & City in sales tax revenue for property tax purposes. As it’s been explained to me, this would benefit all taxpayers that own any property here in Upson County whether it’s real or personal property. Adding the additional sales tax would require the governing authorities to approve it through referendum which most likely would take all of next year to do and taxpayers would not see the benefit of this relief until 2026 at the earliest. The only concern is that we need leadership in place that would not use this extra revenue as a reason to spend more and not use it for it’s intended purpose of helping the taxpayers. Regardless of your opinion on this bill, it’s important you let your local governing authorities know your feelings about this legislation. There are several other components in this bill that aid in simplifying local tax legislation and they all serve to better help our taxpayers. More detailed info about this bill may be found online at: HB 581 Summary and Guidance – accg.org Andy Chastain Upson County Tax Commissioner