ATLANTA – Georgia’s net tax collections soared last month due to a large decrease in taxpayer refunds, the state Department of Revenue reported Wednesday.
The state agency brought in more than $1.93 billion in February, an increase of 42.9% over the $1.35 billion the state collected in February of last year.
Most of the increase was driven by individual income tax receipts, which rose to $1.06 billion, up 96.7% compared to February 2020.
Most of the increase was the result of a 77.5% drop-off in refunds issued last month because of a delay in processing both tax returns from 2020 and the resulting tax refunds until mid-February, a step the revenue department took to comply with new IRS guidelines.
Net sales taxes rose by 16.3% last month, while corporate income tax collections plummeted by 69%, a decrease due to a large drop in corporate tax payments coupled with a big increase in refunds.
The revenue agency warned that as the processing of tax refunds picks up during the next several months, the favorable impact the large increase in net tax collections that occurred in February had on the state’s coffers will go away.
ATLANTA – As was the case with the entire U.S. House, Georgia’s congressional delegation voted along party lines Wednesday on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
The Democrat-controlled House passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 by a vote of 220-211, with all but one Democrat supporting it and all of the Republicans voting “no.” Georgia’s six Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, and the eight Republicans opposed it.
The plan includes $1,400 economic stimulus checks for Americans earning up to $75,000 a year and couples earning up to $150,000 annually, an extension of $300-per-week in unemployment benefits, aid to state and local governments, funds to help schools reopen safely and an expanded federal child tax credit.
It also provides new funding for small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program and additional funding to administer COVID-19 vaccines and expand testing and contact tracing.
“This bill is about saving lives and livelihoods,” said Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, D-Suwanee.
“After a year of grief and pain in America, a year that caused economic hardship for hardworking families across America … this bill helps us move past this year of pain and struggle,” added Rep. Lucy McBath, R-Roswell.
But Georgia’s congressional Republicans called the legislation a hugely expensive overreach by Democrats that goes far beyond what is needed to address the public health and economic impacts of the pandemic.
“You can’t call it a COVID-19 relief bill when 91% of the $1.9 trillion goes toward unrelated Democrat priorities,” said Rep. Rick Allen, R-Augusta.
“It’s nothing but a liberal wish list parading as pandemic relief,” added Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-West Point. “This package is wrong for America, and it’s wrong for the state of Georgia.”
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston objected to a provision in the measure that prohibits state and local governments from using any of the relief funds to offset tax cuts. Legislation the state House of Representatives passed last week and sent to the Georgia Senate would reduce taxes by $140 million a year by raising the standard deduction for state income taxpayers.
“In Georgia, we have prioritized providing tax relief to our citizens, and [the American Rescue Plan] appears to prohibit that relief,” Ralston wrote in a letter to Biden dated March 10. “I pray that you will prevail upon Congress to have this flaw in the legislation corrected before signing it into law.”
Of the $350 billion the bill earmarks for state and local governments, $8.1 billion is headed to Georgia. Of that, $4.6 billion will go to the state, with the rest earmarked for local governments.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who voted for the legislation when the Senate passed it last weekend, said the relief will go to those who need it most.
“Zero percent of the tax credits and stimulus checks go to the top 1%,” he said. “This is getting help directly to working class and middle class people.”
Coronavirus has sickened hundreds of thousands people and killed thousands more in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Georgians ages 55 and older as well as those with a variety of health issues will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines starting next Monday amid a recent boost in supplies, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
Vaccines could also potentially be available for all Georgia adults starting next month if the current number of shots that federal officials are sending weekly to the state continues to increase as it has in recent weeks, Kemp said at a news conference.
“Provided we continue to see increasing vaccine supply, it is our intent to open up vaccination to all adults the first part of next month,” Kemp said.
Along with adults 55-years and older, vaccines will be open starting March 15 to Georgians with health conditions including cancer, moderate-to-severe asthma, heart conditions, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, hypertension, liver disease, COPD, chronic kidney disease, cerebrovascular disease and compromised immune systems.
Kemp said he is expanding eligibility to keep pace with the increasing supply of vaccines Georgia is receiving from the federal government and to avoid seeing lagging demand among currently eligible people. Georgia is currently receiving weekly shipments of 223,000 vaccine doses.
“Adding these additional high-risk Georgians will mean that vaccination will be available to categories that have accounted for 92% of our deaths due to COVID-19 in Georgia,” Kemp said.
“As we have from the beginning, we will protect the most vulnerable to severe illness, hospitalization or death, and enable Georgians to get back to normal.”
The newly eligible Georgians add to a growing list of vaccine-eligible people including school teachers and staff, health-care workers, nursing home residents and staff, first responders, those with mental and behavioral health issues, parents of children with medical conditions and people ages 65 and older.
Nearly 2.5 million vaccines have been given so far in Georgia, including to roughly two-thirds of all people 65-years and older in the state, according to Kemp’s office. Vaccination rates have climbed as the state receives more doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Kemp, who said he will get the vaccine soon, urged teachers and others who are already eligible for vaccines to sign up for appointments now with demand about to spike from the newly eligible group of Georgians starting next week.
“This is your opportunity, these days ahead, to get in the queue and get your vaccines,” Kemp said. “This is going to move rapidly, especially in certain parts of the state, and what we want is for people to get vaccinated.”
Georgians can pre-register for a vaccine appointment at myvaccinegeorgia.com even if they do not yet qualify under the governor’s eligibility criteria. They will be notified once they qualify and scheduled for an appointment.
The governor also said his administration is aiming to quickly expand eligibility further to Georgians who have been hit hard by the pandemic including restaurant, agriculture and grocery workers. How soon those groups will be able to get the vaccine depends on supplies holding steady.
“We want to move that population as quickly as we can and try to protect them and keep our economy going,” Kemp said. “All of this helps get us back to normal.”
Georgia has been ratcheting up to distribute vaccines since the first Pfizer and Moderna doses started arriving in mid-December, particularly through moves to open several mass vaccination sites in different regions throughout the state.
So far, state officials have opened four mass vaccination sites in metro Atlanta, Macon, Albany and Habersham County, and are set to open another five sites next week in Savannah, Columbus, Waycross and Bartow and Washington counties.
The vaccine ramp-up comes as COVID-19 positive case rates and hospitalizations continue falling after a surging outbreak that swept over the Georgia around the winter holiday season. Hospitals have seen a fall in COVID-19 patients from around 5,700 during the winter to 1,500 currently, Kemp said. Deaths traced to the virus are also starting to decline, he added.
“Every metric in the COVID-19 pandemic is headed in the right direction,” Kemp said.
More than 830,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia as of Tuesday afternoon, with nearly 197,000 more reported positive antigen tests indicating likely positive results. The virus has killed 15,647 Georgians.
ATLANTA – Community groups and health-care providers in Southwest Georgia will get help addressing problems with medical billing and debt thanks to a $190,000 grant, Atlanta-based consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch announced Wednesday.
The grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will let Georgia Watch work with two other nonprofits – Georgians for a Healthy Future and SOWEGA Rising – to help hospitals in the region improve their billing and collections practices.
“We will leverage the policy expertise and relationships Georgians for a Healthy Future has in the region, as well as the local knowledge and community trust SOWEGA Rising has as a minority-led grassroots organization based in Southwest Georgia,” said Liz Coyle, executive director of Georgia Watch.
Medical debt has been a growing problem across the country that has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. About 40% of Americans reporting problems with medical debt have received lower credit scores as a result, according to 2016 data from The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to improving health care.
Also, 26% reported they have been unable to pay for basic necessities such as food, heat and housing, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Medical debt burdens Georgians significantly, stemming in part from the state’s large uninsured population,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future. “Southwest Georgia, in particular, has some of the highest health costs in the country due primarily to the lack of competition among providers and insurers.”
Sherrell Byrd, chair of SOWEGA Rising, said the medical debt burden in Southwest Georgia falls disproportionately on the region’s minority population.
“Particularly in rural Georgia, you will see the highest rates of medical bills, which drives up insurance costs, creating barriers to people who have to choose between paying bills and seeking necessary medical care,” Byrd said. “With this funding, we can find solutions that will restore health-care dignity for many people living in Southwest Georgia.”
Low-income children in Georgia are set to soon have an easier path to collecting Medicaid benefits under legislation that passed out of the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Sponsored by state Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, the bill would create an “express lane” for families eligible for food stamps to be automatically enrolled in Georgia’s Medicaid program, rather than having to fill out separate paperwork.
Pending approval from the federal government, the automatic enrollment would allow an estimated 60,000 Medicaid-eligible children who receive food stamps to also join the joint state-federal health program, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.
The bill passed the state Senate unanimously on Wednesday after advancing out of the Georgia House of Representatives last month, also by unanimous vote. It now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, who carried Cooper’s bill in the Senate, said the express-lane format would help cut out cumbersome paperwork and bring more children with medical issues into the Medicaid fold.
“It reduces duplicative services, it reduces bureaucracy and actually gives services to children in need,” Watson said from the Senate floor. “It’s good from a hospital perspective … and it’s good from a government perspective as well.”
Passage of Cooper’s bill comes amid a spike in Medicaid enrollment among low-income Georgians during the COVID-19 pandemic, as enrollment in the state grew by about 338,000 between March of last year and December.
The bill also comes as Georgia’s partial Medicaid-expansion plan has been thrown into doubt after President Joe Biden’s administration moved last month to roll back work requirements for Medicaid eligibility put in place under former President Donald Trump.
Georgia’s partial-Medicaid expansion plan, set to take effect in July, requires eligible adults to work, attend school or volunteer at least 80 hours each month. Critics say the work requirement would leave in the lurch many Georgians who would otherwise qualify for benefits.
The plan would cover adults earning up to 100% of the federal poverty line, adding an estimated 50,000 more beneficiaries, according to state figures. Currently, Georgia Medicaid covers adults with incomes about 35% of the federal poverty line, as well as children in households making up to 138% of the poverty line and low-income senior, blind and disabled adults.
Democratic state lawmakers have long pushed for full Medicaid expansion in Georgia, which would cover adults up to 138% of the poverty line and could add 500,000 more recipients to the program. Republican lawmakers have blocked their attempts, arguing the cost-sharing arrangement between the state and federal governments would still be too expensive for Georgia.
