Little will, no way

Last week, I briefly talked about the tentative recommendation to request an expansion of Georgia's property tax deferment program. Given my policy preference for a property tax circuit breaker program, I was initially disappointed with the Athens-Clarke County Commission's decision to not pursue the program at the state level.

That said, my disappointment stems from my personal preference, and it's important to recognize the bigger picture. Passing a circuit breaker program would be incredibly difficult based on the nature of the existing political environment.

The primary reason why there is little will from the Athens-Clarke County Commission in pursuing a property tax circuit breaker program is because there is less will - almost no will - to pursue such a program at the state level. And, seeing how the state government (foolishly) must approve any sort of local funding mechanism, that means the idea, no matter how good it is, is DOA.

One can quibble over whether or not this is a battle worth waging - and, for what it's worth, I'd like to see some local governments starting pushing for legislation that sets up circuit breaker pilot programs across the state - but waging the battle differs from accepting the existing playing field.

To that end, the commission opted to take a more plausible route to deliver progressive tax reform by pushing for expansions to an existing program that is little used. I'm still not entirely sure it's something the state will ultimately change, and I'm not entirely convinced it's something Rep. Bob Smith signs off on given his general opposition to any sort of tax reform that benefits lower-income folks (as well as his general opposition to going to bat for anything the Athens-Clarke County Commission wants), but ... still.

The commission viewed its available options, checked out the map ahead and decided that making an existing program work better was a more viable path to pursue. In hindsight, it's hard to blame them for such a pragmatic decision, and if I was sitting in their seats, I can't say I'd act differently.

I'd still like to see them, as well as other local governments, advocate for ideas like circuit breakers, but advocacy for such innovation can go hand-in-hand with ongoing, practical work to make our state tax code fairer for low-income citizens.