State house approves changes to vehicle taxes
3/12/2009

ATLANTA - The annual "birthday" tax on vehicles and the sales tax on vehicle sales would be replaced by a 7 percent fee on car titles under legislation that passed the Georgia House of Representatives Thursday.

House Bill 480 passed 133-39. It caps the one-time 7 percent tax at $2,000.

Warner Robins state Rep. Larry O'Neal, gave a fiery speech in the House well in support of the change.

"When we take the ad valorem tax off of our automobiles ... I can actually own my own car, without the government having the first lien on it," said O'Neal, a Republican who chairs the tax-code-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

"That's the first time that's happened in my life time," he said.

The measure would more than replace revenues lost from property and sales taxes, and local governments would split revenues from the new tax with the state. There would plenty left over to help the state fund trauma network improvements, though the legislature would have to appropriate that money and it wouldn't be guaranteed for the issue.

Read this article by Travis Fain from the March 12, 2009 Macon Telegraph.