Speaker Burns proposes major overhaul of Georgia property taxes

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns made an impromptu announcement Wednesday to introduce a bill that would eliminate property taxes for Georgia homesteads.

“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.

If passed, the Georgia Home Ownership and Market Equalization, or HOME, Act would eliminate property taxes on homesteads by 2032 and maintain current property tax exemptions.

“We look forward to giving Georgians stability in their own homes, and keeping this bedrock of the American Dream within reach for generations to come,” Burns said.

The move would eliminate more than $5 billion in annual revenue for schools and local governments across the state, according to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.

Georgia voters approved a statewide homestead tax exemption in 2024, but many school districts and local governments opted out of the exemption over concerns of a loss in revenue.

The Georgia HOME Act would require a constitutional amendment and a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature, which means some Democrats would have to get on board.

“Always my main concern when talking about property tax relief is how do schools submit their funding. As a teacher, we know that our schools are already underfunded,” state Rep. Bryce Berry, D-Atlanta, told Georgia Public Broadcasting. “They’re historically underfunded because we have yet to update our QBE formula taken for account poverty weights that our state needs. And so I know APS, Fulton County, those are larger systems that will probably have the money — likely have the money, maybe. But our rural districts that would get absolutely decimated by things like sometimes.”