What exactly is Georgia Amendment 1? Important property tax question on the ballot

ATLANTA - With Election Day less than two weeks away and early voting in full swing, some Georgia voters are battling confusion. All Georgians will see Georgia Amendment 1 on their ballot this election season. 

The measure addresses property taxes with a heavy dose of legalese:

"Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize the General Assembly to provide by general law for a statewide homestead exemption that serves to limit increases in the assessed value of homesteads, but which any county, consolidated government, municipality, or local school system may opt out of upon the completion of certain procedures?"

"The terminology is not what I would have written. I'm not an attorney, and it would have been very plain," Republican State Representative Beth Camp, who supports the Amendment, told FOX 5. 

"The language of the ballot doesn't do enough to explain the impact of the change," Staci Fox, President and CEO of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI), which opposes the Amendment, said.

We took the Amendment to John Kirbo, senior attorney with Wiggam Law, an Atlanta-based firm specializing in tax law. 

"Effectively, what you're voting on is to cap the increase in your home property tax rates by the statewide inflation rate. This strictly applies to homeowners," Kirbo said.

The attorney provided his edit to the Amendment for voters:

"Should the Georgia Constitution be amended to allow the State of Georgia to limit annual property tax increases for homeowners to the statewide inflation rate, while leaving local governments the to option to opt out, and instead place their own limits on property taxes for homeowners."

While she concedes the Amendment's language may be obscure, Rep. Camp hopes it will provide Georgia homeowners with "a level of transparency."

"Unfortunately, in our state, we've had many taxing bodies not doing their assessments as regularly as the Department of Revenue suggests. So, when there's been mass growth, or we've had shrinkage like, in the great recession, counties and other taxing bodies have not been as responsive as they should have been on values. The consumer price index is a wonderful way to measure that," Camp said.

The representative also hopes to "provide some tax relief on property taxes to our property owners in our state."

At the GBPI, President and CEO Staci Fox is concerned about what that relief would mean for public funding. 

"It's the what, not the why. It's not that property taxes aren't a problem; it's the approach we do not support. We have to see the domino effect of property taxes. Property taxes are used to fund schools; without this funding, schools will have to find another way," Fox said.

Camp points to a FLOST, or floating local sales tax, that counties and cities could enact to help offset the impact. "It will be a one-penny sales tax increase. That would be for everyone living in the county purchasing goods and services. That will offset some of the loss," Camp told FOX 5. 

"It could increase your sales taxes and spread that burden on people who don't own their homes… I think it's good for voters to consider whether homeowners should foot more of the bill or people paying sales taxes should fit more of it," Kirbo said of the FLOST.

If passed, the Amendment would allow any county, government, municipality, or local school system to opt out of the exemption.

"If there's a school board or a city or a county who honestly looks at their numbers and says we have too few people, we don't have enough industry; there are a lot of different factors, they do have the flexibility to opt-out," Camp said.

However, Kirbo noted the opt-out process may be challenging as it requires a notice and comment period with a March 1st deadline. 

"I think we'll see several counties opt-out and then enact the same exemption. They'll be keeping the power in the future to modify their homestead exemptions rather than be tied strictly to the state," he explained.

Herein lies another point of concern for Staci Fox and the GBPI: "We don't believe the Constitution is the place to play out our tax policy. Changes to our Constitution are permanent. It's really rare that we undo changes that we make; they are very hard to undo," Fox told FOX 5.