Glenn Richardson, Speaker

Speaker Glenn Richardson hit my Liar's Radar with his sales pitch for overtaxing Georgians.

In a column printed at the Athens Banner Herald, Mr. Tax-the-Suckers Richardson said:

"The biggest part of the problem is that property taxes are increasing faster than personal income. Since 1990, personal income has increased 146 percent while property taxes have increased 176 percent. Even though people are not earning more income, the government is requiring that they pay more taxes."

Mr. Richardson is about to raise taxes by lying.

Yes, I bet property tax receipts have increased in Georgia since 1990. So have the number of new homes and the number of families living in Georgia. Using data from the Georgia Department of Labor, a department run by Democrat Michael Thurmond, in 1990 Georgia added about 35,000 new single family homes.

Those homes increased the property tax base about $2.5 billion dollars. That's just one years increase in single family homes.

Total new construction increased the tax base about $2.8 billion dollars in 1990. By 2006, Georgia was adding over 81,000 new homes a year with a worth of over $13 billion dollars..

So Mr. Richardson is comparing apples (income) to oranges (property) while selling bananas (income tax increases). I just wish the tax nuts would attract squirrels instead of voters.

1990 building information from http://www.selig.uga.edu/housing/1990.htm or click here.