200 new taxes in one bill? Speaker Richardson's HR 900 in action!

After the first day of hearings on Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson's tax plan, the facts are clear, even if the Speaker's plan is not:  Richardson's tax plan is bad news for Georgia.  The House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony from taxpayers and representatives of interest groups.  Most of those who testified expressed doubt, concern, or outright opposition to the plan.

What's so bad about HR 900?  Here are just a few of the problems with Speaker Richardson's tax scheme:

• 200+ brand new taxes:  Richardson's plan brings in a host of new taxes on everything from ATM fees to gym memberships, from haircuts to piano lessons.  Under HR 900, even your wedding and funeral would be taxed!
• Mandated mediocrity in Georgia's public schools:  On September 4th, 2007, Speaker Richardson told the Dawson Daily News that his plan would include a formula that would create a median standard for public schools, and further that it would force, "those that are above the median to slow their growth."  
• The most unstable revenue stream around:  Sales taxes are the most unstable revenue-raising method around, short of the barter system.  What services will our already-strapped public schools (thanks to billions of dollars in Republican "austerity cuts")  have to cut when Georgia's economy slows down?  Will it be school buses?  Or perhaps school lunches?  Maybe teachers and textbooks?  This is one gamble Georgia doesn't have to take.
• Collection inefficiency:  Every year, millions upon millions of dollars of sales tax revenue goes uncollected in Georgia.  With HR 900 proposing to expand the sources of sales tax revenue so dramatically, who knows how much more money is going to fall through the cracks? 
• Home rule?  Not anymore:  HR 900 puts local governments, boards of education, teachers, parents, and students in the role of beggar, pleading Speaker Richardson for largesse in order to operate their schools.  Local schools should be run by local communities, it's as simple as that.  As one witness at today's hearings put it, "I don't think we're ready to become children of the Speaker."

200 new taxes, mandated mediocrity in our schools, a revenue stream that's shaky at best, an inefficient collection method, and turning your school boards into paupers?  That's some GREAT Plan, Mr. Speaker.