As state vote looms, Alabama weighs in on Riley tax plan

By Danielle Blevins[Ramsay High School]
& D.J. Steverson[Central East High School]

On Sept. 9, Alabama voters will go to the polls to decide whether or not to approve Gov. Bob Riley’s tax plan.

The plan will raise Alabama’s taxes, but Alabama will still be the sixth-lowest state in the country in taxes per individual.

Eight months after the election of Riley, he may have gotten out of the “honeymoon stage” and hit “the honeymoon’s over” stage. Riley is proposing a tax plan designed to take the tax burden off lower income families’ income taxes and put them on large business and landowners. Riley has proposed a $1.2 billion tax plan that will also generate money for education, the prison system and the nursing system.

This plan has many proponents. This bill will hit major landowners hard. Property tax will greatly increase. Property will be taxed at 100 percent of its value, but it will only be taxed at 3.5 mils. Houses will also be taxed at 100 percent of their market value, but this tax does not affect people whose houses are worth less than $50,000. Cigarette taxes will also increase.

“Whatever helps education, I’m all for it,” said Dr. Joyce Stallworth, assistant dean of the University of Alabama’s College of Education.

This plan will raise the funds for the Alabama Reading Initiative and a program similar to the Hope Scholarship Program in Georgia.

However, there are also many opponents to this bill. Many of these opponents are those who helped get Riley into office. Much of the opposition to Gov. Riley’s tax plan is coming from within the GOP and its supporters.

The Christian Coalition of Alabama states on its Web site that the organization’s board “(is) unable to support any new permanent tax proposals to cure historical systematic failures and poor public policy of unmerited spending habits.”

“Poor stewardship got us in this mess, and good stewardship will get us out,” John Giles, the president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, said. The Christian Coalition supported and campaigned for Riley in the 2002 Governor’s Election.

Giles said he and many other staff members felt “heartsick” when they knew they would not support Riley on this issue and hopes that when this is all over there would be no hard feelings.

“We are an issues-driven organization and we have an obligation to stay true to our goals,” Giles said.

Other groups from Alabama and across the country are banding together to fight Riley’s tax plan. Citizens for a Sound Economy’s Steven Flaherty said that while big businesses’ taxes will increase, they would not pay the taxes. Instead, the businesses will pass the cost on to the consumer.

When asked about how this plan will generate money for free college education to Alabamians, Flaherty said, “The plan is admirable, but Alabama can’t afford it.”

The CSE says that in order to generate the money needed, lawmakers need to cut government spending and keep the government running efficiently.

While all the organizations and professionals have weighed in, Debra Henley, the mother of an incoming UA freshman stated her opinion. Henley said that the tax plan is a little zealous, but “Education needs money.” That is why Henley is in favor of the proposed tax plan.

The $1.2 billion this tax plan will generate will seek to help Alabama pay off its $675 million debt. This debt has hurt many areas of Alabama’s already weak and struggling economy, but it has hit education especially hard. The school systems of Alabama have been in proration for the past several years, which has caused many, if not all, school systems to make major cuts in their spending.

“Alabama can’t afford not to do something,” Stallworth said.

More than $180 million out of Alabama’s $240 million ”rainy day education fund” has been taken out to try and minimize the amount of cuts that school boards will have to do this year.

Riley argues, if this tax plan is not passed not only will our education fund be diminished, but there will be major cuts elsewhere to pay for the salaries of the 2,300 teachers.

Contrary to what Riley said, Gary Hoover, a UA assistant professor of economics, said the cutbacks will likely continue.

“If this bill doesn’t pass, it won’t kill us, but there will be more of the same. Alabama cannot afford dumb kids like other states can,” Hoover said. “If you think education costs, think of the cost of being stupid.”

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