We are taxing the poor on the necessities of life and that is something most states avoid. But we are doing it with pride.
Mostly it's just a matter of how you get things done in an election year.
With the way they've done it, we've got the most help we could get for tax payers under $20,000 (annual income) without hurting education too much.
Both Rep. Knight and Gov. Riley played critical roles in making this happen and they deserve praise along with every member of the House who voted for it.
We will be back on that effort again next year. I think we're going to build on the momentum from this.
A family of four earning $15,000 annually will have a $260 savings. That's a meaningful amount.
Alabama taxes low income people deeper into poverty.
This is a sixty million dollar change and that is profound. And yet it still only gets us half way to Mississippi.
This is an especially harsh time to be taxing families deeper into poverty.
It's a base hit. We've learned before you can't get a home run in tax change.
That's only $5 a week but this is a family that's just right on the edge of survival. They're below the poverty line. So $5 a week adds up to a real decision about the food they eat and the clothes they buy.