Georgia’s 2025 fiscal year will be remembered less for a single marquee bill than for a constellation of measured, taxpayer-focused changes that added up to real relief. Some of the savings recently arrived in bank accounts; others showed up as lower withholding amounts, education assistance or costs citizens never had to absorb. Taken together, the six policies below provided meaningful financial breathing room while reinforcing the state’s long-standing commitment to limited, responsible government.
1. A lower income-tax rate on your paycheck
House Bill 111, passed in March and signed April 15, 2025, accelerated the tax cut schedule and reduced the rate another two-tenths to 5.19%.
2. Rebates from last year’s surplus
House Bill 112 directed $1 billion of that surplus back to taxpayers through flat rebates: $250 for single filers, $375 for heads of household and $500 for married couples filing jointly.
3. Future interest you will never pay
Over the FY 2022–FY 2024 budget cycles legislators used excess cash to fund roughly $3.45 billion in capital projects—roads, university buildings, public-safety facilities—without issuing new debt.
4. Promise Scholarships reach students for the 2025-26 school year
The Georgia Promise Scholarship—up to $6,500 per child that follows students to private schools, homeschooling, tutoring, online courses or other approved educational expenses.
5. Licensing reforms will reduce red tape
Because of new occupational licensing reforms, professionals will save on application and administrative fees, avoid income loss from processing delays and experience fewer interruptions in employment.
6. Opening health-care doors by carving holes in Certificate of Need
This year, healthcare providers in certain areas are able to open new facilities without needing Certificate of Need approval from the state.
We hope you will check out this week’s commentary highlighting 6 ways state policy will affect your wallet this year. We also have the latest news and analysis from the last week, including:
- Georgia’s unemployment rate drops
- Rural site development grants announced
- Cursive returning to Georgia schools
- 4th of July travel to shatter records
Have a great weekend,
Kyle Wingfield
Friday’s Freshest
Georgia’s conservative budgeting pays off, literally
The state government operates under a balanced budget requirement, so there is no deficit spending a la Washington. Still, the state historically has issued bonds to pay for infrastructure projects, from bridges to new college classrooms. Lately, however, it has eschewed even that borrowing – to the benefit of taxpayers. The budget year that begins July 1 will be the third straight with no “bond package,” as that section is typically called. Instead, over the course of three years the state has paid cash for projects totaling $3.45 billion.
Homeschooling support for military families: A new opportunity for Georgia
The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced a formal review of how it supports military families who choose to homeschool their children—a move that could significantly benefit Georgia’s large and growing population of service members. The review signals a broader recognition in Washington of what military families have known for years.
School choice means more than just one program
Proponents of educational freedom in Georgia often hold up Florida as a paragon of empowering families to choose the education that best fits their children’s needs. But with so much of the focus on private choice, it’s easy to forget that freedom also means the ability to move among public schools. That’s particularly worth remembering as Florida has hit a new milestone: 51% of all K-12 students there exercised educational choice last year.
Wall Street remains easy target, but tackling housing affordability begins in Georgia
Out-of-state companies, typically classified as “institutional investors,” have drawn the ire of policymakers and the public primarily by purchasing existing single-family homes and then renting them out. Some of these companies also build homes and develop entire subdivisions with the sole intention of renting, another contentious concept known as Build-to-Rent, or BTR. But to truly look at the issue of housing affordability, we must look inward at the policies that have stifled housing.
Weighing the costs and benefits of data centers in Georgia
While the data center industry has grown rapidly since a tax credit was introduced, there is debate over how influential the credit has been over that growth. In late 2022, the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government released a report that evaluated tax incentives for Georgia’s data centers. This study calculated the return on investment of the credits, or in other words, how much economic activity would have occurred if not for the subsidy.
The Latest
Economy
Second busiest May ever at the Port of Savannah
May was another busy month at the Port of Savannah with 500,900 20-foot equivalent container units, the Georgia Port Authority said. It’s the second busiest May ever and an increase of 2.2% over last month. The increase was attributed to added capacity located next to the Garden City Terminal, which is the largest container terminal in the Western Hemisphere.
Rural site development grants going to four Georgia recipients
A total of $7.5 million in grants will be distributed among four Georgia communities through a state program designed to foster economic development in rural counties. The OneGeorgia Authority’s Rural Site Development Initiative helps communities identify, assess, and develop new ready-for-development industrial sites. Grants of $2 million each will go to the Development Authority of Milledgeville and Baldwin County, the Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority and the Worth County Economic Development Authority, and $1.5 million – will go to the Development Authority of Bulloch County.
Georgia’s unemployment rate drops for the first time in months
After holding steady at 3.6% for several months, Georgia’s unemployment rate dipped slightly in May to 3.5%, while Georgia gained 4,900 jobs in May, the Georgia Department of Labor said. The health care and social assistance sector had the most job gains with 4,000 and led the state in job creation over the year with 22,700.
Grocery giant Kroger to close 60 stores in next 18 months
U.S. grocer Kroger is planning to close dozens of stores by the end of next year. While the company has not released a list of which locations will be impacted, some closures have been confirmed by the United Food & Commercial Workers union and reported by local media outlets. This includes one location each in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Decatur and Brookhaven.
Within minutes of Zohran Mamdani clinching the Democratic nomination Tuesday night, real estate agents like Ryan Serhant were flooded with calls from clients looking to walk away from deals to buy apartments in NYC. High-end buyers are now looking to purchase property outside the city.
Education
Public schools are among our most important civic institutions, essential to both individual opportunity and democratic life. But they cannot be both a core government service and a platform for personal or political expression. The tension between those roles has been allowed to fester unexamined for too long.
Cursive lessons to return to Georgia schools
Children in Georgia will soon learn how to loop their letters together again. Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, third, fourth and fifth grade students will be instructed to read and write cursive thanks to the state’s updated English Language Arts standards. Third grade students will learn how to write the letters and read short phrases, while fourth and fifth grade students will read and write longer passages.
Clayton County Public Schools keeps clear bookbag requirement
Clayton County students will need to keep wearing clear backpacks when they return to school in August. Clayton County Public Schools said Wednesday that it’s continuing its clear bookbag policy for all students in the 2025-2026 school year. The district introduced the requirement in 2022 in response to a surge in weapons on school campuses.
Housing
More homeowners find themselves underwater
Some who bought around the market peak in pandemic boomtowns owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. The number of underwater mortgages in the U.S. has surged to over 500,000. Atlanta, however, has not experienced the same sharp decline in home values as some areas like Austin, Texas or Cape Coral, Florida so it’s not among the top cities with a high share of underwater mortgages.
Institutional investors are not to blame for U.S. housing prices
Lagging supply remains the largest driver of high housing costs. Rather than being a cause, persistent high prices in the housing market have attracted these investors who are aware of the major shortage. The Foundation talked about this issue in Georgia in a recent commentary.
Taxes
DeKalb County proposes 2025 property tax increase amid rising values
The DeKalb County Governing Authority has tentatively set the 2025 millage rate at 12.427 mills, which is 2.690 mills higher than the calculated rollback rate of 9.737 mills. That represents a 27.63% increase over the rollback rate. The total combined millage rate for all six of the county’s tax levies will remain at 20.81 mills.
Savannah-Chatham Board of Education approves 2026 Budget with reduced millage rate
In a special called meeting this week, the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education approved the FY 2026 Budget with a reduced millage rate. The Board approved the budget with a reduced millage rate of 17.331 mills, a 0.15-mill decrease from last year. But the full rollback rate would have been more than a 1 mill decrease. The Foundation recently looked into the district’s spending over the past decade.
Bonus
4th of July travel likely to shatter records
The Fourth of July holiday is fast approaching — and it’s going to be a busy one. A record high of 72.2 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home over the July Fourth holiday period, according to AAA. This is 1.7 million more people than last year and 7 million more than in 2019, according to AAA.
Joey Chestnut announced on social media on Monday that after a year away, he is “thrilled to be returning to the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.” He was previously unable to compete due to his partnership with Impossible Foods, a company selling plant-based meat substitutes.
Several Atlanta music venues among world’s highest-grossing
Several music venues in and around Atlanta are among the world’s highest-grossing, according to a report by music magazine Billboard. The Fox Theatre came in at No. 1 for venues with a capacity between 2,500 and 5,000 people. The Midtown venue grossed $34.6 million across 115 shows. It has hosted 428,000 fans. State Farm Arena came in at No. 5 for arenas with a capacity of more than 15,000 people.
Quotes of Note
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” – Harry Truman
“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn
“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” – Ella Fitzgerald
