Georgia Rep. Bobby Franklin Presents Bill To Close Loophole Exempting Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta From Billions In Taxes
REP. BOBBY FRANKLINDuring his 12 years in the Georgia House of Representatives, Bobby Franklin (R-East Cobb) has demonstrated that he is a relentless crusader for lower taxes and for fiscal responsibility. Now Franklin is proposing a dramatic measure to “close an enormous loophole created by breathtaking favoritism that has bestowed literally billions of dollars in tax exemptions upon the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.”
“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,” Franklin declared in remarks distributed today.
Franklin asserted that 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.”
Representative Franklin stated, “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,” Franklin insisted, “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?’”