House pushes tax cuts to court wary GOP

ATLANTA - Tax cuts for wealthy senior citizens and property owners were tacked onto a bill that would hike dozens of user fees in Georgia and slap a new tax on hospitals.

The House approved the wide-ranging new bill 107-63 on Wednesday. The legislation was cobbled together from several other measures as the House and Senate sought to strike a budget deal with the clock running out in the 2010 session.

Democrats questioned the legality of lumping the bills together.

But Republicans pushed it through. The tax cuts were designed to sweeten the for GOP legislators wary of backing a tax hike. The property tax provision would eliminate the state portion of property taxes. For senior citizens, the state income tax on retirement income would eliminated for those age 65 and over.


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