Interactive Infographic // No DB // Versioned Inputs
GEORGIA AFFORDABILITY SIMULATOR
A self-contained page that lets you change assumptions and see the mechanical tradeoffs. Every default number is sourced; estimates are labeled as estimates.
Baseline (FY2024)
Where state revenue comes from
Income tax (individual)
$16B
Sales & use tax (state net)
$9B
Sales tax (total collected)
$18B
Derived (transparent math)
Taxable sales base estimate from FY2024 total sales tax ÷ assumed combined rate.
$242B
Using 7.50% combined rate
Local property tax (calendar year 2023)
Context baseline used as the default for “revenue to replace” in the scenario controls.
$17B
Note: calendar-year (Census) vs fiscal-year (DOR) baselines.
FY2026 Budget Lens
Where it goes (education + healthcare)
A simple spending framing: two large agency totals (Education and Community Health) shown against the FY2026 revenue estimate.
Revenue estimate (state funds)
$38B
Education (Dept. of Education)
$14B
36.1% of revenue estimate (State Funds)
Total Funds: $16B
Healthcare (Community Health)
$6B
14.6% of revenue estimate (State Funds)
Total Funds: $25B (includes federal match)
Note: This uses the highlights revenue estimate as a denominator. It is a high-level framing and may not match any one “state funds appropriations total” table exactly.
Monthly Budget
Can wages cover the basics?
This lens is intentionally simple: gross monthly income minus your estimated monthly essentials.
Inflation / buying power (CPI-U)
Base CPI: 312.1 • Current CPI: 320.2
Change: 2.6% • Budget deflation: Off
Healthcare premiums (benchmark)
KFF covered-worker contribution: single ≈ $114/mo • family ≈ $525/mo
Budget uses: $0/mo (manual input)
Monthly gross income
$1,257
Monthly essentials (estimate)
$3,100
246.7% of gross income
Leftover
-$1,843
Negative means the math doesn’t work.
Expense breakdown (monthly)
Distribution
Who pays more (by income group)
Net change is computed as: extra sales tax paid from the new rate minus the group’s allocated property tax relief.
Net change ($/year; negative means net savings)
Net change (% of income)
Taxes modeled per group (dollars and % of income)
This table reflects what this simplified model actually computes: baseline sales tax paid, the change in sales tax from the scenario, and the allocated property tax relief. It does not model total tax liability (income tax, payroll taxes, fees, corporate incidence, etc.).
| Group | Avg income | Baseline sales tax | Δ sales tax | Property tax relief | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom 20% | $18,000 | $1,148 6.38% | $1,072 5.96% | $682,299,694 3790553.85% | -$682,298,622 -3790547.90% |
| 20–40% | $35,000 | $1,969 5.63% | $1,839 5.26% | $1,474,104,276 4211726.50% | -$1,474,102,437 -4211721.25% |
| 40–60% | $55,000 | $2,681 4.88% | $2,505 4.55% | $2,501,765,544 4548664.62% | -$2,501,763,038 -4548660.07% |
| 60–80% | $85,000 | $3,506 4.13% | $3,276 3.85% | $4,105,029,433 4829446.39% | -$4,105,026,157 -4829442.54% |
| Top 20% | $160,000 | $4,200 2.63% | $3,924 2.45% | $8,176,365,054 5110228.16% | -$8,176,361,130 -5110225.71% |
What the model assumes (editable)
- Sales tax paid ≈ income × taxable consumption share × rate
- Property tax relief allocated by: population × (income^exponent) × incidence factor
- Incidence factor = homeowner share + renter share × pass-through
- Property tax relief allocated by: population × (income^exponent) × incidence factor
- Incidence factor = homeowner share + renter share × pass-through
Edit group assumptions in data/ga-affordability/distribution.ts.
Scenario
Property tax replacement → required sales tax change
Because property tax is primarily local in Georgia, the key question is: “How much local revenue are we trying to replace?” This model expresses that replacement as a required increase to the combined sales tax rate.
Local revenue replaced (derived)
$17B
CY2023 baseline × 100% removal
Other replacement revenue (derived)
$0
Sum of enabled policy toggles (editable estimates).
Required sales tax increase
7.01%
Percent points added to the combined rate.
Net sales tax revenue required: $17B/yr
New combined sales tax rate (estimate)
14.51%
State 4% + assumed average local + required increase.
Household Lens
Wages and buying power (simple math)
This is intentionally conservative: gross pay only (no federal tax credits, no payroll deductions). It’s a baseline reality-check, not a promise of precision.
Annual gross pay
$15,080
Monthly gross pay
$1,257
Assumptions & Caveats
- Property tax is primarily local revenue in Georgia; eliminating it requires replacing local funding or cutting local services.
- This page does not model behavioral effects (reduced consumption, cross-border shopping, price pass-through).
- Distribution charts use a simplified incidence model (taxable consumption shares and a transparent property-tax weighting rule). These are editable assumptions, not claims of exact burden by income group.
- The household budget section is gross-income-only and uses user-entered estimates for expenses. It does not include payroll taxes, federal income tax, or refundable credits.
- Property tax replacement uses a calendar-year (CY2023) local collections baseline from U.S. Census government finance; sales tax and other tax baselines are FY2024 (DOR). This mismatch is why the removal slider is framed as a modeling assumption.