Economics

A topic generating national headlines—and local controversy— drew a large crowd to the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Member Economic Luncheon.  Dennis Trotter, AMCC Board member, introduced a panel of experts and shared the data center’s impact on his firm. “Just in our office, that we do for our commercial real estate business, we’ve seen these become very emotionally charged issues on one end,” he began. “But, with the other end being extremely large capital investment in our community, an enormous amount of tax generation for all our various governments

Funding for a project that will open up more of South Augusta to business, residential, and commercial growth has the green light. Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 9 (SPLOST 9) was approved by more than 58.5% of the more than 22,000 residents who cast a ballot. It is a $375 million package that will take effect when SPLOST 8 wraps up this fall. Money for a project from the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) is among those on the approved list.  AEDA received $22 million of the $25 million

A series of tax-cutting bills passed by the Georgia Legislature have been signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Kemp said the legislation will lower the tax burden on Augustans and all Georgians, while working to secure the state’s reputation as a top place to do business. Kemp said the cuts were possible because of budgeting conservatively. “That approach has allowed us to return billions of dollars to taxpayers, and the legislation I signed today will keep that momentum going as we further lower our state income tax rate,