(The Center Square) – Georgia ranks among the states with the best return on investment for taxpayers.
The Peach State ranked fourth in WalletHub’s study of the Best & Worst Taxpayer Return on Investment in 2022. It explored 30 metrics, and, nationally, it found Republican states outperformed states run by Democrats.
While Georgia ranked sixth for total taxes paid per capita, it ranked No. 30 for overall government services. The state ranked second on the list of states with the best roads and bridges.
“Georgia is the state with the fourth-highest taxpayer ROI. Its residents pay one of the lowest amounts in taxes, $3,000, which, unfortunately, causes them to have below average government services. More specifically, Georgia lacks in terms of its education and health care systems,” Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, told The Center Square. “It has a large share of idle youth, 15%, a low number of hospital beds and low quality public hospitals.”
Georgia outperformed several of its neighboring states, including North Carolina (15), South Carolina (16), Tennessee (20) and Alabama (22). However, it lagged behind its neighbor to the south, Florida, which ranked second nationally.
Nationally, New Hampshire topped the list, and Hawaii ranked No. 50.
Georgia residents may have another return on their investment to cheer about. The state plans to give more than $1 billion in refunds to state taxpayers, a move that is “unprecedented for state government,” the governor said in a Tuesday interview.
“Because of our conservative budgeting at the state level and also just our resolve to keep our economy open and to be the first state to majorly reopen parts that hadn’t been opened during the pandemic, we’re seeing the fruits of that right now as we protected both lives and livelihoods,” Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, told WSB Radio in Atlanta.
Kemp signed the measure, House Bill 302, on Wednesday.
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
