Occupational Tax Special Session

[Reactionary]

Thanks to those who are letting me think this issue 'out loud' on this thread. It's pretty confusing and I'm trying to get it straight - I didn't like it when I first smelled it and I'm trying to figure out why...

Maybe I should start calling this the 'commuter tax' even though it hurts JeffCo residents the most. Nonresident workers shouldn't have to pay a JeffCo income tax.

Jefferson County may lose business - most new businesses can start anywhere, especially if there's lots of free parking. Shelby County is booming in part because of JeffCo's anti-business climate.

Commuters already pay - taxes are paid by the workplace and commuters themselves eat and shop in Jefferson County. The commuter gets taxed at home: police, fire protection, and county services are paid by property taxes. Going after commuters who don't have a vote on the issue will not pay off in the long run, because people and businesses can still vote with their feet and their wallets.

Are there any programs in Jefferson County that can be cut or scaled back? Any waste or fraud? Does the UAB pay property taxes?

The harder you squeeze water the faster it flows through your fingers... (uh, that's a comment on corporate and labor mobility...)

[cassy1]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Yes, they took the risk that it would take years of going to court to overturn (it did) and that a judge wouldn't make them pay back ill-gotten gains (he didn't) - and it worked for them. What sucks is that they knew the end was coming and had no plan to deal with it - the attitude seemed to be get what you can while you can - or a Looter mentality...

You have been a world of knowledge for understanding this, thank you so much.

[Threestep2]

House delegation approves Jefferson County replacement jobs tax
Full House vote next hurdle
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 KIM CHANDLER News staff writer

MONGOMERY - Jefferson County House members OK'd a bill Tuesday that would reauthorize the county's occupational tax and let voters decide in 2012 whether to keep it or kill it.

But the bill would allow the County Commission to decide whether to continue collecting the full tax for five years after the vote or to phase it out, as legislators previously discussed. Bill sponsor Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, said legislators were advised they couldn't mandate the phase-out under the state constitution.

Rogers said that, under the bill, which was quickly approved by the county's House delegation Tuesday, "Everybody gets what they wanted. Everybody gets the right to vote on the tax, and it gets the county out of its immediate crisis."



He said he expects the bill to be approved by the House of Representatives today. But the measure is headed to a political showdown in the Alabama Senate, where some senators don't want to give voters the ability to end the tax.

Making that change would kill the bill, Rogers said. "That's not what was agreed to," he said.

Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, agreed. ``I think the chance of it passing is diminishing as time goes by this week because it appears both sides are locked in to their position," said Waggoner.

Legislators are working in special session to replace financially troubled Jefferson County's 0.5 percent occupational tax, which a circuit judge ruled illegal. The tax raised about $75 million for the county in the last fiscal year.

The bill by Rogers would levy a 0.45 percent occupational tax on the wages of everyone who works in Jefferson County, including professionals such as doctors and lawyers who now are exempt.

If Jefferson County residents should vote down the jobs tax in 2012, the bill authorizes - but does not mandate -the County Commission to begin reducing the amount of the tax by 20 percent each year until the tax automatically expired in 2016.

Sen. Steve French, R-Mountain Brook, said the commission could choose to keep the full tax in place until 2016, but he thought commissioners would get voted out of office if they did so.