More Tax Reform Needed
Today’s editorial in the Tuscaloosa News echoes what Kimble Forrister said in yesterday’s Montgomery Advertiser: There is more work to be done in our state on tax reform.
[Governor Riley’s] efforts finally paid off, and Alabama no longer is at the bottom of the list. It now ranks fourth behind West Virginia, Montana and Hawaii.
But with all respect to Riley, the higher threshold is hardly the end of an unfair tax system on Alabama’s poor.
Correctimundo. Let’s hope that we have a taste of reform and are ready for more.
While Alabama has by far the lowest property taxes in the nation, it has the country’s highest sales taxes. Combined with local levies, they exceed 10 percent in some areas of the state.
Because of their regressive nature, sales taxes fall especially hard on lower-income residents.
Some Alabamians pay 12% sales tax. Even if working Alabamians in poverty paid NO state income taxes (and some won’t now that the tax reform bill has passed), they will still pay twice as much in state and local taxes as what the wealthiest pay as a percentage of income.
But opponents, traditionally led by Alfa, have bitterly fought reforms. The proposed changes have gone nowhere in the Legislature.
Yep, we love those low-sacrifice issues, but are not big on high-sacrifice issues.
But there will never be real tax fairness without comprehensive reform that lifts the burden from the shoulders of the poor while giving Alabama adequate revenue for schools, prisons, health and public safety. That day — if it ever arrives — really will be something to celebrate.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks, Tuscaloosa News.
If you believe in this sort of thing, keep your sleeves rolled up. There is more to be done.
