Senate committee votes to send four income-tax reduction bills to the floor

A Georgia Senate committee on an internal session unanimously approved a motion to place four income-tax reduction bills on the floor for consideration tomorrow.

Senator Harvin said, “I’ve got 4 bills we’re gonna put on the floor tomorrow,” identifying SB 476, SB 477 and the companion House bills HB 134 and HB 463. Committee members then moved and seconded a motion to send those bills to the floor; Senator Kauser moved the motion and Senator Anderson seconded it. The chair called for hands and said, “Motion carries unanimous.”

The committee provided brief descriptions of the measures. According to comments made during the meeting, SB 476 was described as an incremental reduction in the income tax. SB 477 was described as a measure that would reduce the income tax to zero for households with up to $100,000 in joint income and $50,000 for single filers and would include related tax-credit provisions. The committee characterized HB 134 and HB 463 as duplicate or companion versions of SB 476 and SB 477, respectively.

There was no recorded substantive debate on the merits of the bills in the transcript. One committee member, identified in the record as saying, “Senator Tillery didn’t even show up for his own bills,” noted the absence of a colleague whose name was tied to some of the measures; no response or formal objection appears in the transcript.

After the unanimous voice/hand vote to place the four bills on the floor, the chair adjourned the meeting.

Next steps: the bills were placed on the floor calendar for consideration the following day, per the committee motion. The transcript does not record any committee amendments, committee reports, or a roll-call that would record individual yes/no votes.