A Georgia House subcommittee Tuesday became the first panel to back Gov. Brian Kemp’s call for another income tax rebate.
A House Ways and Means subcommittee voted unanimously for the proposal, which would grant many single-filing Georgians $250 rebates and couples filing jointly $500.
In total, the rebate would send $1 billion back to Georgians. The rebates would go out this spring if they win final approval.
People who didn’t owe state income taxes — such as seniors living on pensions and/or Social Security — won’t’ receive the rebates.
After a record state surplus in fiscal 2021, lawmakers passed essentially the same rebate last year, which started going out shortly before Kemp faced a Republican primary challenge. He easily won the primary and bested Democrat Stacey Abrams in November to earn another term.
After all the bills were paid and agencies returned leftover funds, the state’s surplus for fiscal 2022, which ended June 30, was a record $6.6 billion. So Kemp called for another rebate this year.
The Internal Revenue Service said last week that filers who itemize their deductions when they file their taxes will have to pay federal taxes on the rebate. Most filers use the standard deduction and don’t itemize.
