This bill defines contiguous property for the purposes of qualifying for the special tax assessment under the Forestland Protection Act. When a portion of the land under a covenant is sold, it restricts penalties and interest to the party that breaches the covenant on their share of the land owned under the covenant.  The land of the non breaching owner remains in the covenant without penalty.  If property of less than 200 acres is purchased that is contiguous to an existing covenant, it can may be added to the existing covenant for the remainder of the covenant period.

HB 164 prevents counties from prohibiting the use of coin operated amusement machines or limiting the number of coin operated amusement machines to less than nine per business. Counties may provide limited regulation of these machines, including requiring business owners to inform all employees of the state prohibitions against disbursing certain types of prizes. Counties may provide that an alcoholic beverage license may be suspended or revoked for failure of a business owner to comply with the state law regarding the use of coin operated amusement machines. Counties may also regulate the distance required between the coin operated amusement machines and other structures, so long as the distance requirements are no more stringent than those provided for the sale of alcoholic beverages. Businesses may be required by the county to keep the coin operated amusement machines in plain view.

This legislation changes several definitions in the sales and use tax code to make Georgia eligible to be a full participant in the National Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement.  This membership will provide the state and local governments additional sales tax funds through collections from out-of-state retailers participating in the program.

This bill creates the Georgia Tourism Development Act to promote the development of new tourism attractions or expansions of existing tourism attractions that are supported by at least 25 percent from out of state visitors.  It authorizes the incremental increase in state and county/city sales tax generated from the project to be applied toward a tax refund up to 25 percent of the project costs over a ten year period.  To qualify the project must have a cost in excess of one million dollars, be approved by the local governing authority, the Governor and enter into an agreement with the Department of Community Affairs.  Tourism projects include cultural or historic sites, recreation or entertainment venues, and convention and hotel conference centers.

This legislation allows county commissions or city councils to determine if one of their previously approved special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) projects has become infeasible because it is impracticable, unserviceable, unrealistic or no longer in the best interest of the citizens. If a resolution is passed by the governing authority determining infeasibility, the project could be abandoned if approved by the voters in a county wide election held in conjunction with the next SPLOST referendum. The money set aside for those projects could then be used to reduce general obligation debt and/or ad valorem taxes.

This bill extends the sales tax exemption for donated food for hunger relief.

This bill also authorizes the Department of Revenue to continue to make distributions of unidentifiable sales tax to local governments based upon a pro rata formula.

This bill extends the sales tax exemption for food and beverages given to a food bank.

This bill extends the exemptions from the first and second motor fuel taxes for certain public mass transit vehicles owned by public transportation systems and for vehicles operated by public campus transportation systems until June 30, 2015. The current exemptions are schedules to sunset on June 30, 2012.

HB 851 repeals a population Act in CS 48-6-73 with the result that all counties will receive the same commission rate of 6%.

This bill prohibits any county, city or school from conducting a hearing required under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the same day. The bill was amended in committee to also require a quorum of the elected officials to be present at each hearing and for each elected official to attend at least two of the three required hearings. This bill will significantly delay the submission of the county tax digest.

This bill creates a three year statute of limitations on auditing for any business that collects sales tax and files a return with the Department of Revenue.

• Provides for additional notice requirements for those that purchase tax executions;
• Prohibits the sale of a tax execution while the value of the property is in appeal;
• Requires partial payment on a property tax bill containing fees or assessments to fully satisfy the property tax liability before applying the rest to the fees or assessments;
• Authorizes counties to form a regional tax assessor’s office or share specialized appraisal staff;
• Establishes a review board under the Department of Revenue to investigate complaints filed on members of a Board of Assessors or Boards of Equalization that have been accused of willful disregard of the law or inappropriate, unprofessional, abusive behavior;
• Requires applicants seeking appointment to the Board of Equalization to disclose their educational background and experience;
• Requires an additional 40 hours of continuing education for members of the Board of Equalization entering their third term;
• Establishes deadlines for the Board of Assessors to respond to appeals;
• Defines the temporary tax payment due while a property is in appeal;
• Further defines the process for having an appeal heard by a hearing officer;
• Further defines the process for having an appeal heard by an arbitrator;
• Places a two year moratorium on penalties for failing to maintain a tax digest in compliance with the state sales ratio study;
• Defines a single contract for collecting city property taxes between the county, city and tax commissioner;
• Requires the purchase price of the property to be disclosed on the PT-61 form.

This bill requires tag offices to offer vehicle owners a free decal with the county name or a decal with "In God We Trust" for their license plates.