A family of four earning $15,000 annually will have a $260 savings. That's a meaningful amount. |
Alabama taxes low income people deeper into poverty. |
Both Rep. Knight and Gov. Riley played critical roles in making this happen and they deserve praise along with every member of the House who voted for it. |
It's a base hit. We've learned before you can't get a home run in tax change. |
It's what's politically possible. You take small steps. |
Mostly it's just a matter of how you get things done in an election year. |
That's only $5 a week but this is a family that's just right on the edge of survival. They're below the poverty line. So $5 a week adds up to a real decision about the food they eat and the clothes they buy. |
This is a sixty million dollar change and that is profound. And yet it still only gets us half way to Mississippi. |
This is an especially harsh time to be taxing families deeper into poverty. |
We are taxing the poor on the necessities of life and that is something most states avoid. But we are doing it with pride. |
We will be back on that effort again next year. I think we're going to build on the momentum from this. |
With the way they've done it, we've got the most help we could get for tax payers under $20,000 (annual income) without hurting education too much. |