Georgia Senate advances bill blocking local opt-out of homestead tax exemption

A bill is headed to the Georgia House that would prevent local governments and school districts from opting out of a statewide homestead tax exemption. 

The Georgia state Senate passed Senate Bill 382 on Tuesday with 31 to 19 votes after a lengthy debate, according to WABE.

The move comes on the heels of an announcement by Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns on Jan. 28 to eliminate property taxes for Georgia homesteads by 2032. If passed, the bill could cost local governments and school districts more than $5 billion in annual revenue, according to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.

In 2024, Georgia voters passed a statewide homestead tax exemption that would cap increases on property taxes for homesteads, but local governments were allowed to opt out. More than 30% of counties, 66% of school districts and 25% of cities opted out of the provision, according to a report by the Georgia State University Center for State and Local Finance.

“Property tax rates have skyrocketed far beyond what most Georgians can reasonably afford or be expected to pay, placing an unfair and unsustainable financial burden on countless homeowners throughout the state,” Burns said at the announcement.

Democrats are not as convinced the legislation will be good for the state.

Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II told WABE that Senate Bill 382 disregards the bipartisan work that went into the original measure.

“To actually be able to send this to the voters, we actually brought Democrats and Republicans to the table, to where we had to work through these particular issues, and we actually had an opportunity to influence that legislation,” he said. “Now, though, because we only need a majority vote, we now, today, have decided we’re about to basically scuttle all of that.”

Democrat LeMario Brown is running for state Senate District 18. He recently spoke on the Ron Show about the property tax legislation.

“Sometimes I just scratch my head with some of the legislation these guys pass down, man. It’s like, do you not have a heart at all?” he said. “I just either feel like they’re just completely evil, or they just don’t really care about their fellow man in these small communities. So that’s the whole reason we’re running, man. We’ve got to put a stop to that.”