I think he gets it. I hope he gets it! But only time will tell and it will take the 2008 session of the Georgia legislature to reveal just how Senator Williams and the rest of the Republican leadership are going to deal with the issue of water.  This interview focuses primarily on water, but near the end we discuss Glenn Richardson’s proposal to eliminate the property tax.Â
When it comes to Speaker Richardson’s proposal, Tommie makes it clear that while it may pass the House, it will not pass the Senate, at least not in its original form. I am not sure what that means, but Senator Wiliams is equally emphatic that the 2008 legislature is going to do something about property taxes. According to Senator Williams, people are upset about their property taxes are going up.Â
He points out that people on fixed incomes have to worry about their property taxes increasing to the point they can’t afford to pay them. I don’t think anyone would argue with the idea that the elderly and people on fixed incomes need some protection, I don’t think this justifies a criticism of the property tax as an effective and fair tool for raising revenue. There are two basic reasons the taxes of homeowners go up significantly: (1) correcting years of under-stated property values because assessors did not do their jobs, or (2) the inflated value of real estate in this economy.Â
I mentioned to Tommie that Warren Buffett, the billionaire, had recently announced that he paid 18% of his income in taxes and his secretary paid 33% of her income in taxes and had challenged members of Congress to disclose their tax rates. I then asked Tommie if he thought the shifting of the tax burden from a wealth basis, such as the property tax, to a consumption basis, such as the sales tax, would result in his paying less taxes. He readily admitted that he had already done the math and that he would pay less tax.Â
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the primary reason behind Glenn Richardson’s efforts to eliminate the property tax: less taxes for the rich, more taxes for consumers.
Water, is not an easy topic to discuss, since it seems that no one wants to talk specifics. However, in light of Governor Perdue’s recent public confession of sin regarding the way the water problem has been handled, I really wanted to know what sins had been committed that may be affecting the delivery of water from the heavens.  I am still not sure what those sins are, but I still resent having my supply of water affected because of them.
It did not take long to establish that the water plan proposed by the Water Council is not going to receive the legislature’s approval. The real question is what plan will pass, because some plan has to pass unless they change the law.
Tommie also pointed out that everybody is sick and tired of the hassles that come from too much growth and development in Metro Atlanta. Too many cars. Too much traffic. Too little water. However, I did not detect any real desire to curb the enthusiasm of developers for more.Â
Tommie readily acknowledges that South Georgia is not going to stand for having its water sent to Atlanta.
He doesn’t think that building more reservoirs is a long term solution to the water shortage, mainly because he thinks the EPD and the Endangered Species Act would effectively prevent a reservoir being approved.Â
He mentions the possibility of a desalinazation plant to pump water from the coast to Atlanta as a possibile means of providing more water to the Metro Atlanta. That is certainly a possibility, but the costs is going to be a big issue. Not only that, will Atlanta pay for it? Can Atlanta pay for it?
I was surprised when he mentioned the Tennessee River, which he indicates Georgia owns half of. Hmmm! Never thought of that, but Tommie indicated that Georgia might claim a right to pump water from the Tennessee River to Metro Atlanta. Of course, there are all sorts of issues with this, such as the power and control of the Tennessee Valley Authority over the Tennessee River, not to mention building the pipeline to Atlanta.
While these long term possibilities are interesting to discuss, I was more interested in finding out if anyone, including Tommie, had any idea what Atlanta was going to do in 250+ days, if and when the water ran out. He indicated that the emergency managment agencies were working on that problem and I really did not get any idea what short term options were under consideration, other than, of course, hauling water to and fro.
The only thing that is still certain is that 2008 is going to be interesting, to say the least.
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