Dear editor:

 My thanks to the Sunlight Project writers for some very interesting and informative articles. A prime example is the article on property taxes which was in The Observer on July 9, 2017. If you own property in Colquitt County, this is a must read for you.

    The article compares property taxes for cities and counties in our surrounding area and other areas in the Sunlight Project coverage area. The information shows that property taxes in Moultrie and Colquitt County are not only higher than the others, but substantially higher.

    Moultrie’s tax is in the neighborhood of 40 percent higher than the other cities in the article with the exception of Thomasville. Thomasville provides the same services as Moultrie, but collects no (zero) property taxes!

What! How can Thomasville provide the same services and collect no property taxes? And remember, if you own property in Moultrie, you pay the city’s property tax as well as Colquitt County’s property tax.    

   Colquitt County’s tax is 49 percent higher than the average of all the others. And if not for the permanent one cent LOST, which equates to about 4.5 mills, Colquitt County’s millage rate, at 19.8 mills. would be almost twice the others. Now in all fairness, I do not know if the other counties have the LOST penny.

   In a subsequent letter to the editor, the Colquitt County administrator, as he should have,  attempted to soften the blow by saying that if Colquitt County’s BOE millage rate is added to the county’s, the combination would be much closer to the average of  the other counties listed.  But when you factor in that Colquitt County BOE has a permanent LOST and a five-year ESPLOST, its millage rate would be about 19.281 without them. That combination remains considerably higher than the others.

 Colquitt County BOE has enough extra money to spend 10  to 12 million dollars to build an enclosed  practice football field, coaches offices, weight room, and lunchroom for the football players. Never mind that there are not enough textbooks so that each student can take one home at night.

 Most uninformed voters will say that LOST and ESPLOST are the most fair tax because everyone who buys something pays those sales taxes. WRONG! Purchases made with an EBT or Peach card are exempt from all local taxes. So the next time someone pushes two shopping carts full of expensive meats through the line ahead of you and pays with one of those cards, you will know they are paying with free money and no local taxes are charged. A person cannot qualify for EBT or Peach card if he or she has assets of $1,000 or more. So those who qualify apparently own no property and, therefore, also pay no property taxes. In addition, qualifying for the cards also qualifies one for Medicaid and free health care.

    In addition, purchases made with a GATE (Ga. Agricultural Tax Exemption) card, are not charged any local tax (3 cents) or state tax (4 cents). So if you purchase a nice truck priced at $60,000 and you do not have a GATE card, you will pay $64,200. If you pay with a GATE card, you will pay $60,000. And that exemption applies to anything which could conceivably be used on the farm. Anyone involved in agriculture or who works in support of agriculture qualifies for the card. If I remember correctly, the millage rate for farm land, and residences on the farm, is 23 percent less than your house in a subdivision. Land enrolled in the conservation program is assessed with extremely low property tax. No property tax is collected on the millions and millions of dollars of farm equipment.

 That doesn’t leave many of us, including seniors who get only social security checks, to pay all the sales taxes and most of the property taxes. The tax structure in Colquitt County is designed to penalize all its residents who are not involved in agriculture ,but work otherwise, and are not enrolled in any government give-away programs.      

Bruce Leigh

Moultrie