ATLANTA – Today Representative Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) released the following statement concerning House Bill 466:
“I have never sponsored or voted for legislation to either create new taxes or to increase the tax burden of individual Georgians or Georgia businesses. Let me be clear that House Bill 466 which I introduced on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, does not create a new tax. It simply makes sure that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, a private entity in spite of the word ‘federal’ in its name, is treated just the same for tax purposes as every other private business and private bank located in Georgia.
“The net financial result of eliminating the grossly unfair tax advantage that has been lavished upon the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for nearly a century will be more than enough to resolve our budget woes.
“We are all well-aware that Georgia is facing an unprecedented budget crisis. The notion that President Obama’s so-called stimulus package will provide dollars to resolve the state’s financial problems will shortly be revealed as false. That hype will soon evaporate like the morning fog. Then the looming question will be: ‘what in the world are we going to do?’
“I am confident that Georgians think it is fundamentally unfair to allow the super-bankers and their wealth-engine, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, to be tax-exempt. Georgians will ask: ‘How can any responsible political leader oppose requiring the biggest bank in Georgia to pay its fair share? How is it that community banks in Marietta, Dalton, Dublin, Valdosta, and every other Georgia town are taxed, while one private bank has a free ride? How is it fair to make struggling Georgia mom and pop businesses pay taxes while the colossal Fed does not pay one penny in taxes?’”
###