[Figment 07]

I just read about proposed legislation to completely eliminate the 4% state sales tax from groceries sold in Alabama and double the currently allowed personal and dependent state income tax exemptions.

How likely is this plan to pass... and when?

[Southlander]

LOL! That was just one legislator's proposal. Alabama is more likely to approve a lottery than roll back taxes of ANY kind!

[marysally]

Since Alabama has very low property taxes, it is unlikely that they will lower sales or income taxes. These are the main sources of revenue to run the state.

[fishmonger]

Given that the people of the state will most likely not support any type of tax increase, and the state's public services are already pretty strapped as it is, they really need to do some sort of revenue-neutral reshifting of the tax burden. Alabama has one of the most regressive tax systems in the U.S. ... poor and lower-middle class people pay more taxes here than they would in Massachusetts of all places.

[Normajo]

Originally Posted by Southlander

LOL! That was just one legislator's proposal. Alabama is more likely to approve a lottery than roll back taxes of ANY kind!

I wanted to move to AL, wrote the governor about the outrageous sales taxes & the fact that there is no homestead proeprty exemption for seniors.
Of course, I never got a reply!

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by Normajo

I wanted to move to AL, wrote the governor about the outrageous sales taxes & the fact that there is no homestead proeprty exemption for seniors.
Of course, I never got a reply!

There is a homestead exemption for senior citizens, but you have to have under a certain income level. Don't know what it is, but my 84-year-old mother didn't qualify.
We've already talked about the sales tax.

[Twostep]

Originally Posted by Normajo

I wanted to move to AL, wrote the governor about the outrageous sales taxes & the fact that there is no homestead proeprty exemption for seniors.
Of course, I never got a reply!

Normajo you should be well aware by now that there are homestead excemptions for the elderly. That they do not meet your expectations is another cup of tea.

[Twostep]

Originally Posted by Normajo

All exemptions should be equal, like they are in other states. The poor, hard working, honest, middle class citizens of AL support the politicians with the deep pockets & all of their rich friends & they support the immoral welfare people who have children outside of marriage. It is terrible & evil!

What is your issue with Alabama and taxes in Alabama?

Moderator cut: off topic

[Twostep]

Alabama ranks 45th in taxes
Birmingham Business Journal - 2:50 PM CDT Friday, April 6, 2007
Alabamians pay less in state and local taxes than 45 other states, according to a new study by the Tax Foundation.

As a percentage of income, taxpayers in Alabama pay about 8.8 percent in state and local taxes combined, far below the national average, which is 11 percent, the 2007 report showed.

Nationally, that places the Alabama at 46th among states, the same ranking it has held since 2001. Per capita, Alabamians pay $3,090 in state and local taxes on income of $35,007.

In comments on the findings, the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based research group, cited Alabama's "unusually strict constitutional restraint on local taxation."

Vermont residents paid the highest percentage of their income in state and local taxes, 14.1 percent. Also in the top five were Maine, New York, Rhode Island and Ohio.

States with higher combined tax rates than Alabama's were Delaware, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Alaska, which ranked last at 6.6 percent.

Regionally, the average tax burden is 10.2 percent in the Southeast, the second-lowest number after the Southwest, where state and local taxes average 9.5 percent of income.

[Normajo]

To answer your question, a person's home should be his castle.
You can never own your home when you have those eternal property taxes.

Moderator cut: removed

I did not get a reply after I wrote the governor & it has been more than long enough for a reply.
Blessings to you!
PS The sales taxes are outrageous, the property taxes are not cheap for middle class working parents or senior citizens.