Study: Alabama income tax on working poor harshest.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A national study released Wednesday showed Alabama makes families living in poverty pay higher income taxes than any other state.
The study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities comes a few days after a U.S. Census report showed Alabama residents and businesses overall pay less in state and local taxes than their counterparts in any other state.
In the 2007 fiscal year, the average of state and local taxes collected per person in Alabama was $2,909. Mississippi finished 49th at $2,989. The national median was $4,011.
That doesn't mean everyone in Alabama is enjoying low taxes.
"At the lowest incomes, we have some of the highest taxes in the nation because our system is upside down," said Chris Sanders, policy analyst for the Arise Citizens' Policy Project in Montgomery, which is funded by churches and other groups to speak out on behalf of Alabama's poor.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200..._ge/al_poverty_taxes

Alabama democrats taxing the poor. You can send thanks to Bedford and Denton.

Every time someone decent runs for office it seems the old boys set them up. Why in the world is Susan Parker not our representative for
AL-5 instead of Budlite?

The statehouse is a worthless pile of frozen minds. It is a shame that the asylum is so far away from them in Tuscaloosa.

It seems that Alabama gets exactly what it deserves for not voting for someone with a brain. Now Roy and some kid of Fob's is running for governor. What joy there is to be had in the Most Serene Christian Republic of Alabamastan.

Do away with state income tax and go to the sales tax system of florida...If you use the roads, infrastructure and other public facilities then you need to pay your portion of supporting those structures regardless of your income.

quote:

Originally posted by trader:
Do away with state income tax and go to the sales tax system of florida...If you use the roads, infrastructure and other public facilities then you need to pay your portion of supporting those structures regardless of your income.

Sounds good to me!

Not, a bad idea. I would limit sales tax on food and prescription drugs. But, make up for that with an excise tax on certain luxuries and high end vehicles.

quote:

Originally posted by interventor1:
Not, a bad idea. I would limit sales tax on food and prescription drugs. But, make up for that with an excise tax on certain luxuries and high end vehicles.

My thoughts exactly. I realize these laws will not get extremely specific, but I do know some individuals who can barely afford food who buy their dogs clothes. If I want a Bentley, I should be prepared to pay the taxes on it. Ground beef is something else.

If we are "all equal under the law", we should ALL pay the same amount, say ten percent of earnings. If ten percent is good enough for GOD it should be good enough for the government. If that does not cover government expenditures, cut back on spending like "realPeople" must do when funds are short.

quote:

Originally posted by SHELDIVR:
If we are "all equal under the law", we should ALL pay the same amount, say ten percent of earnings. If ten percent is good enough for GOD it should be good enough for the government. If that does not cover government expenditures, cut back on spending like "realPeople" must do when funds are short.

Very well put! Great post SHELDIVR!

You guys are trying to use that common sense thing again. Remember it doesn't work with politics. The thing I disagree with is lowering taxes for the poor. Why give someone an incentive to stay poor? We should be trying to figure out ways to get people out of poverty and into becoming productive working citizens.

A flat tax would put hordes of lawyers, accountants, bureaucrats who work for the IRS, and others of that ilk out of work. The first, richest, and most vocal opponent of flat tax would seem to be the ABA. But it seems to work well for social security and medicare...at least, it would if the Government didn't waste the money.

Don't forget Alabama has low property taxes. High property taxes hurt the middle class and poor more than the wealthy.

quote:

Do away with state income tax and go to the sales tax system

That could become an extremely regressive system if not done properly. If done properly, it could result in major revenue swings depending on economic conditions.

quote:

Originally posted by SHELDIVR:
If we are "all equal under the law", we should ALL pay the same amount, say ten percent of earnings. If ten percent is good enough for GOD it should be good enough for the government. If that does not cover government expenditures, cut back on spending like "realPeople" must do when funds are short.

How in the world do you think we are all equal? A minimum wage nobody is not equal to a middle class or high class somebody. I don't think you understand the article. Try reading it again. For an example, the people working at WalMart, fast food chain, convientence store, and nowhere jobs are taxed more from their income than the guy with a high paying job. The person on these low wage jobs verses your high paying jobs is just barely getting by anyway. The guy with the high paying job is doing extra well. So I don't see how all this would be fair for those people working low wage jobs.

quote:

Originally posted by Nobluedog:
Alabama democrats taxing the poor. You can send thanks to Bedford and Denton.

There may be a lot of things to blame Denton and Bedford for - but the regressive tax in Alabama is not one of them. I wrote a dissertation in 1976 in which the unfairness and the problems in depending on the retail sales tax were cited. the papere was on school finance - citations by authorities in the tax field.