"Illegal aliens should start paying their share of Georgia state taxes, and the heavy state income and property tax burden that Georgia taxpayers suffer under must be reduced," Todd Tibbetts, a Republican candidate for the District #27 State Senate seat, said Saturday at the Cherokee Republican party meeting.

Tibbetts called for a Freedom Tax Initiative that would eliminate both the Georgia state income tax and the school portion of personal property taxes. The tax initiative, Tibbetts said, would ultimately require Georgia’s illegal aliens, who do not pay state taxes, to start paying for the benefits they receive from Georgia’s government.

“Illegal aliens should start paying their share. Truthfully, we have created an underground economy with a group of people who are not citizens, who don’t pay taxes, who can’t vote and who are untraceable by our government,” said Tibbetts. “If people are going to live in our state illegally, then they need to be taxpayers like the rest of us.”

Tibbetts’ initiative, which would free Georgia residents from paying both state income taxes and school property taxes, calls for taxes to be based on the consumption of goods.

“With the Freedom Tax Initiative, Georgians’ state income tax goes from 6% to 0%, and the school portion of property taxes goes down to 0%,” he said. “We replace these taxes by changing state sales tax from 4% to 11%.” “By doing this, we eliminate April 15 as Georgia’s income tax day, we eliminate the school portion of property taxes, we provide much needed tax relief to individual Georgians as well as to small business owners, and we require illegal aliens to start paying for state services.”

“Our initiative will be in the form of a State Constitutional Amendment, which must be introduced in the House,” said Tibbetts. “We will need 120 votes in the House to get the amendment to the Senate and then 38 votes in the Senate to get the initiative placed on a November ballot so Georgians can vote on the proposal.”

“The Freedom Initiative is similar to, yet different from, the Fair Tax plan promoted by Congressman John Linder and radio talk show personality Neal Boortz,” said Tibbetts. “Our plan does away with two major tax burdens and impacts our state taxes, not our federal income taxes.

Over the past two years, Georgia House Majority Leader Jerry Keen strongly supported eliminating the school portion of personal property taxes, according to Tibbetts. “Unfortunately, the no-school property tax plan was abandoned by legislators. In fact, my opponent, Jack Murphy, refused to take a position on eliminating the school portion of personal property taxes,” Tibbetts said. “Even if Murphy will not commit on this issue, I will. Georgians need a tax break.”

“Once I am elected, I will work tirelessly with the Governor, Senators and House members to free Georgia taxpayers from having to file, pay or withhold their money for state taxes on their incomes and on their property,” said Tibbetts. “I will be a tax-cutting, tax-eliminating state senator.”

www.toddforgeorgia.com