Saturday 3/18/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114267697814950.xml&coll=2 – Editorial urges legislators to provide funds to DOC so that Perry County private prison can be used to address overcrowding crisis.
http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2006/dh-localnews-0318-richardmcvay-6c17v3948.htm - Talladega/St.Clair legislators review week in Montgomery.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060317/APN/603171064&cachetime=5 – Attorney General refuses to launch investigation into natural gas rates; says that’s the job of PSC.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060318/NEWS01/603180323/1007 - Increased utilization of public transit driven by rising fuel costs.
FROM THE DAILY NEWS DIGEST:
EDITORIALS
Back to business
In our opinion
03-18-2006
Though wheels are still spinning on constitutional reform, the Legislature did get back into the groove this week and continued to make steady progress in its fundamental areas of responsibility.
With the Education Budget already passed and heading for the governor, the Senate turned its attention to the General Fund, which it approved by a ringing 34-0 vote. At $1.6 billion, the budget is 6 percent larger than last year’s, and includes a 5 percent raise for state workers.
Though not as flush as the Education Trust Fund, this operating budget allows the state to restore funding to many museums and attractions that were cut out back in 2003. Word is that the House will approve it and the governor will sign it, and Spring Break will be a lot more pleasant for legislators.
We hope our representatives will have time to relax, to ponder and to return ready to finish the job on tax relief for the poor. Seldom has Goat Hill seen such a feel-good issue. Everybody wants to give tax relief to the less fortunate.
However, some of the crowd also want to give tax relief to the not-quite-as-less fortunate, others want to add the sort-of fortunate to the list, while a few want to make the already fortunate even more so by cutting their taxes as well. With so many plans being kicked around, there was a very good chance that we would end up doing nothing.
Then, at the end of the week, a compromise was worked out and the Alabama House voted to immediately raise the threshold where the poor pay state income taxes from $4,600 to $12,600. Adjustments in the standard deduction for couples and the deduction for children would give some tax relief to those making less than $30,000 a year, and there is even a small cut for families making under $100,000.
The bill is not what the various interests wanted. Advocates for the poor did not get the tax threshold raised to $20,000, and those wanting a tax cut for the wealthy didn’t get it.
But if we look at who got something and what they got, we can see that this bill targets those who need help the most. Though we may wish that the state could do more, we must admit that what the House has done is pretty good.
And in Alabama, pretty good is nothing to sneer at.
