In the News
At last, a ray of hope
April 4, 2008
Huntsville Times, 04/04/08
State voters may get to decide on the sales tax on groceries
Sometimes the Alabama Legislature can surprise you. It can talk about a worthy idea for years but never pass it. Then one day something happens. This may be one of those occasions.
Not in recent years has a proposal to reform Alabama's tax system gotten as far as one did on Wednesday. Committees of the House and Senate voted for a constitutional amendment that, if ratified by the voters, would rescind the state's 4 percent sales tax on groceries.
Alabama is the only state with a sales tax so harsh on a family's weekly food bill. (Most cities and some counties also levy sales taxes. Those would not be affected.)
The overwhelming votes by the House Education Appropriations Committee and the Senate Taxation-Education Committee approved separate but identical measures. Either would suffice, but the full House and the full Senate would both have to act in favor of one of them by three-fifths votes. A constitutional amendment is not subject to a veto by the governor.
In saving Alabama families $320 million a year in sales taxes, the same measure would deprive the state - almost exclusively in the education budget - of the same amount. Alabama schools can't afford that.
So the sales-tax exemption is accompanied by a provision that would eliminate the ability of taxpayers to deduct their federal income taxes from their taxable Alabama income. A family with two dependent children making $100,000 a year or less would enjoy a tax cut. But a similar family earning, say, $200,000 would face a slight state tax increase - about $500, or one quarter of 1 percent of their income.
The figures reflect something else, as well. The bills passed by the committees stipulate that, if passed, the state would no longer tax family incomes below $20,000. The current cutoff is $12,600.
Thus, not only is the amendment revenue neutral, but according to The Birmingham News, it would generate some $345 million to replace the loss of $320 million. Little wonder Paul Hubbert, head of the powerful Alabama Education Association, likes the plan.
Obviously, "tax reform" is not necessarily the same thing as a "tax cut," if the terms are strictly defined. The amendments passed by the committees would, in fact, convey a tax cut to about 80 percent of the state's residents and a tax increase to about 20 percent.
That's why some Republicans are complaining. Even so, the existing tax system works the other way. It imposes a disproportionate burden on poor and working families, for whom the weekly grocery bill takes a far bigger chunk of their money than it does for families earning $200,000, $500,000 or more.
The amendment at issue would be fairer, provided you define fairness in a manner other than whether it's perfectly equitable.
Let the people decide
Legislators who object are entitled to their opinions. But they ought to have the decency to refrain from trying to block this measure at the legislative level. After all, the proposed amendment does nothing more than send the question to the voters.
Politicians and others who constantly give lip service to letting the people speak should adhere to their principles and let the people speak on an issue whose importance is probably secondary only to that of constitutional reform.
Legislators must either trust the people of Alabama or tell the people that they don't trust them. In this instance, acting otherwise would be dishonest and dishonorable. And we've had enough of that for too long in this state.
