Time for bravery
Feb 08, 2010 | 641 views | 3 
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Be brave. Be fearless.
Do the right thing.
Do something that strips away politicization and helps thousands of everyday Alabamians get by a little better tomorrow than they do today.
We dare you.
In this case, history isn’t on the state Legislature’s side. Legislators in the state House voted four times last year on an amendment that would remove the state sales tax on groceries. Four times it failed, even though many legislators on both sides of the aisle agreed with the basic premise that lessening low- and middle-income Alabamians’ tax burden at the grocery store was a worthwhile concept.
To his credit, state Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, isn’t giving in. He’s sponsoring this year’s version of the bill that includes concessions to House Republicans, many of whom opposed the idea last year because it would take away the state deduction for federal income taxes for the well-to-do.
This year, Knight’s bill is strengthened because it removes the 4 percent state sales tax on groceries and over-the-counter medicine. Funding for schools would be protected by ending a large tax deduction for the highest paid.
Additionally, the bill would allow couples earning up to $200,000 and single taxpayers earning up to $100,000 to continue to take their entire state income tax deduction for federal income taxes paid. Last year’s opponents of the bill should like that.
Alabama Arise, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of the state’s low-income residents, estimates that a typical Alabama family would save approximately $100 per family member each year if Knight’s bill passes.
Of course, this is where bravery enters the equation.
The details are damning for Alabama, which is one of only two states — Mississippi is the other — that continues to collect sales taxes on groceries. It’s a recessive tax, one of the least-defensible types. It’s an immoral, unbecoming policy choice.
What makes it worse is that Alabama’s ranks of low-income residents are deep, and they’re growing. The lingering effects of the Great Recession don’t help. Thus, collecting sales tax revenue on Alabamians’ food equates to a deliberate effort to allow unnecessary pain.
Alabama must divorce itself from its western neighbor and join the other 48 states that shun a regressive food tax that particularly hurts low-income residents.
To get there, Republicans must help. They must acknowledge that this year’s version alleviates some of their concerns about the taxation of high-income taxpayers. And they must see that helping everyday Alabamians is a vital part of the reason they were sent to Montgomery.
For some legislators, it will take bravery to do the right thing.
But the time has come. This bill should pass. Alabamians need help. This is one major way the Legislature can help move the state into the 21st century.
If you're going to advocate support for a bill, then the least you could do is read it first and not just parrot the bill sponsor's spin. You go so far as to embrace as your own Rep. Knight's and Alabama Arise's seething disdain for all the rich, cowardly, immoral Republicans who have opposed the bill in the past.
You got played.
First of all, regardless of what Rep. Knight or Alabama Arise told you is in House Bill 1--his proposal to amend the state constitution to limit state income tax deductions for federal income taxes and exempt food from state sales tax--the following link will to take you to the actual HB 1 that is currently pending action in the House Education Appropriations Committee:
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACTIONViewFrame.asp TYPE=Instrument&INST=HB1&DOCPATH = searchableinstruments/2010RS/ Printfiles/ &PHYDOCPATH =//alisondb/acas/searchable instruments/2010RS/PrintFiles/&DOCNAMES=HB1-int. pdf
You'll discover that, in Knight's bill, only individuals making less than $50,000 and couples making less than $100,000 would remain eligible for an unlimited deduction on federal income taxes paid. Everyone else's deduction would be limited. Everyone else would have a higher state
income tax bill (i.e., tax increase).
By the way, exempting food from state sales tax doesn't help Alabama's poorest residents at all. Food Stamps are available to them. And food purchased with Food Stamps is already exempt from state sales tax.
In reality, the only Alabamians who would benefit from this bill are those with incomes too high to qualify for Food Stamps but still low
enough to avoid being hit with a limited deduction on federal income taxes. The benefit? At best, a $100 to $200 savings on their annual grocery bill.
For everyone else, any savings realized by
exempting food from state sales tax would be cancelled out--and then some--by the higher state income tax they'd have to pay as a result of the limited federal income tax deduction.
Something else. Currently, revenue generated from the state sales tax on food is earmarked for education. While Rep. Knight and Alabama Arise and the rest are always quick to imply that revenue generated from the federal tax deduction limits will replace that funding to education, there isn't a single word in the bill earmarking it to be used for that purpose. In other words, education gets screwed anyway.
The food tax exemption part of Knight's bill is a red herring plain and simple. He's a smart guy. He knows it's not going to help Alabama's poor. But he also knows that, if he can get our attention sufficiently trained on his deceptive rhetoric declaring what a wonderful thing it would be, then he has a shot to accomplish what he has long acknowledged he wants to accomplish:
Make all those "scheming" businesses and rich people pay more state taxes. He'll tell you it's because the current tax system favors the rich at the expense of the poor...and that limiting or eliminating their federal tax deduction would make things fairer. Really? Currently, for each and every Alabama taxpayer, his/her state income deduction for federal income taxes is based on how much federal income taxes he/she paid...and the amount of his/her federal income taxes is determined by his/her income. Unfair?
Even if you do side with Rep. Robinhood, now is not the time to impose federal income tax deduction limitations on any Alabamians.
Employers are already reeling from a chaotic economy and already being looked to as cash cows for dubious national policy initiatives. Many
businesses—especially smaller ones—wouldn’t survive another hit.
The bottom line is that Rep. Knight's bill would not only not help Alabama’s working families, it just might cost many of them their jobs.
There's a reason that this legislation--in all of its various forms--fails to pass year after year. It's bad legislation. Bad for Alabama. Bad for all Alabamians.
Shame on Rep. Knight for trying to work this same
wolf-in-sheep's-clothing con on the public again. And shame on you for being duped into giving him the forum to do it.
Your February 8, 2010, editorial deceived your readers. You owe them a do-over.
It is time to end the blatant and gross unfairness that is written into our tax code. If you're informed on this issue, there's no way you can agree with how we do things now. It's upside-down and backwards.
Please, state legislators, it's time to untax food.