Alabama Voters Reject $1.2B Tax Hike

The Associated Press ^ | 9/10/03 | Phillip[ Rawls

[LdSentinal]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Gov. Bob Riley's $1.2 billion tax plan was rejected overwhelmingly Tuesday night as voters agreed with those who said Alabama needs spending cuts rather than the biggest tax hike in state history.

The final count showed 866,623, or 68 percent, opposed the plan while 416,310, or 32 percent, voted for it.

The Republican governor promoted the tax package — the largest percentage tax boost proposed in any state — as the way to get Alabama off the bottom of many national education rankings.

But opponents, including leaders of Riley's own party, said Alabama politicians need to cut their wasteful spending rather than raise taxes. Voters agreed with them by a 2-1 margin that was wider than polls had indicated.

Riley said heeding the voters' message will require "difficult" budget cuts, but he said he would try to protect "the least among us."

David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, said opponents ran a better campaign with a clearer message.

"The opponents were able to play on the voters' cynicism about politicians in Alabama, that the tax increase wasn't necessary, and that even if it did pass the money wouldn't go to education," he said.

At polling places across the state, voters voiced their distrust of politicians.

"If the money they have now was spent wisely, we wouldn't need this," said Adie Ward, a 74-year-old retired state employee from Montgomery.

Some, however, agreed with the governor that a tax hike could lift Alabama's public schools.

"This tax bill is written for the future of our kids and of Alabama," said Roger Smith, a 54-year-old minister of music in Birmingham.

About 53 percent of Alabama's 2.4 million registered voters took part in the special election, exceeding the 45 percent who turned out to defeat a state lottery four years ago.

Riley repeatedly told voters in last year's election for governor that he never supported a tax increase during his six years as a congressman. But when he became governor in January, he said he "had no choice" in proposing a tax increase to alleviate the state's worst budget deficit since the Great Depression. Without a tax hike, he said, budget cuts would be so deep that state government wouldn't function.

The Alabama Legislature is expected to be called into special session in about a week to deal with the red ink. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Riley and several leading lawmakers have said they would follow the voters' wishes and make cuts if need be. The governor has said cuts could include releasing 5,000 inmates, ending nursing home care for hundreds of elderly citizens, and curtailing prescription medicines for the mentally ill.

Roger McConnell, co-chairman of the anti-tax Tax Accountability Coalition, said voters will keep a close eye on the special session.

"The electorate is much smarter than people realize and they are fed up with Montgomery and the way politicians spend money," he said.

Riley's plan was aimed at erasing a $675 million budget shortfall and pay for new education programs, including college scholarships, a longer school year and distance-learning technology that would allow rural schools to offer the same advanced courses as urban schools.

Many states raised taxes and fees in 2003 to cope with budget problems. California added $4 billion and New York nearly $2 billion, but Alabama's package was the largest in terms of the percentage increase in state tax revenue — nearly 20 percent when completely phased in over four years.

The size of the Alabama plan attracted national interest. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, now co-chairman of Citizens for a Sound Economy, said the 2-1 victory by opponents sends the strongest anti-tax message since Californians passed Proposition 13 in 1979 to lower property taxes and launch an anti-tax movement.

"It's an irrefutable message," said Armey, who campaigned against the tax hike.

Riley's plan was built largely on higher income and property tax payments from the middle and upper classes. But it also would have raised Alabama's lowest-in-the-nation threshold for payment of income taxes from $4,600 for a family of four to nearly $20,000 after four years.

Riley, a Southern Baptist in a Bible Belt state, suggested that Christian voters ought to help the poor by reforming a state tax structure that he called immoral.

But religious, political and lobbying groups couldn't agree.

For instance, the Christian Coalition of America endorsed the plan, while the Christian Coalition of Alabama opposed it. And while the state Republican Party urged a no vote, the state Democratic Party embraced it.

Low-income families were viewed as major beneficiaries of the plan, but polls showed only mixed support among blacks and lower-income voters.

"I don't think raising taxes will help us be accountable. People are tired of paying taxes," said Lenny Bolton, the 64-year-old pastor of a Southern Baptist church in a blue-collar neighborhood of Montgomery.

Elsewhere Tuesday, voters in Tulsa, Okla., easily passed a measure to raise the local sales tax by 1 cent to help pay for $885 million worth of projects, incentives and improvements.

[EternalVigilance]

Praise the Lord and pass the ammo...

[dts32041]

Tax cut fails elderly, women and children hit hardest.

[bybybill]

Watch what the people do with the tempory tax increase in Oregon! Thank you, Alabama

[Kuksool]

Hopefully, Riley could put the tax hike plan behind him and start to focus on more important issues like cutting spending.

[Fledermaus]

Good for them.

Let's face facts. Every single government agency from the feds on down do "projections" of revenue based solely on guesses and one-time surges.

They then spend those projections regardless of whether or not the revenue comes. They lie and say those expenditures are "required by law". Sure, stupid laws they pass that forces those levels of baseline budgeting on a public too stupid to stop them. Or too heavily employed by the same governments.

Something has got to give...either government workers can't unionize or they can't vote. With a voting, unionized government employee block we get wasteful spending, increasing benefits paid and less productivity. Then we finance their pensions. Why aren't they required to finance their own pensions like the rest of us?

They spend ever increasing amounts on "education" but the test scores keep going down. Then they ask for more.

Then they spend more and more on health care costs but never require anyone on the government dole to pay a simple co-pay to see a doctor or go to the emergency room. So they go to hospitals to get minor treatment for headaches and hangnails and waste time and money. And the government just asks for more taxes.

And to top it all off, no one (hardly) ever gets fired or prosecuted. I'm tired of giving ever increasing amounts of money to people that couldn't run a simple corner lemonade stand.

[goldstategop]

It was marketed as all for the chirrun and as what Jesus wanted. It fell flat big time.

[George W. Bush]

Good for them. We're starting to see more and more blocs of voters in various states who resist the constnat urging to increase state spending and raise taxes. It's very encouraging.

[EternalVigilance]

It was marketed as all for the chirrun and as what Jesus wanted. It fell flat big time.

Amen and thank God. ;-)

[Fledermaus]

Yeah, Riley really hurt the religious people in this country by saying it's "their duty to help the poor". Now the liberals will have another albatross from a moron to put around the neck of all God fearing decent people.

What would Jesus do? That question alone is so disgusting and juvenile that any politician that uttered it should be thrown out of office.

I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't steal money from hard working citizens and call them taxes to prop up a bloated, bureaucratic, wasteful and ridiculous governement run monopoly in education.

Enron and WorldCom (who did all their cheating during the Clinton administration while paying campaign money to them and passing around their stock as speech payments by libearls in the press) are the greatest companies in the world compared to how liberal, left wing idiots run government agencies (some conservative idiots too).

I've checked and most of the organized religions that spread the word of Jesus raise money without a law forcing people to pay and some of those religions believe they themselves should live in poverty as they help those less fortunate. I haven't seen too many nuns driving Mercedes limos like our politicians.

I feel for the citizens of Alabama since we in Tennessee had a RINO for governor in TaliDon the Tax Terrorist Sundquist who, after re-election, took only six months to backtrack on all his promises of not pushing an unconstitutional income tax on us. And boy did he spend money like it was never going to stop coming in.

His "education" proposal (get this, the monster of total stupidity) was to spend $100 million a year in NEW spending to "teach kids to read by the 3rd grade". Now, isn't that what we are f'ing paying taxes for already???

And you'll love this...the program wasn't to really teach ONE child...it was to hire tutors to teach the teachers as to how better teach the children. Lewis Carrol on opium couldn't have come up with one like that!

I guess "for the children" hasn't worked so now it's "what Jesus would do". I hope God is watching and maybe he'll send Jesus back down and he himself could tell us what he will do, what he would drive, etc. so all these morons would just shut the heck up.

[ambrose]

Ahnold is going to do the same thing... you know it, I know it...

[Bonaparte]

Hmmm, the people of Alabama seem a lot smarter than we are here in California. Maybe if they got rid of their public "education" system altogether they'd all become geniuses.

[lainde]

Go Alabama!

[Quigley]

Something I heard on the radio last week. The conversation was about how bad off this state is with it's finances. Someone also brought up that only ten states have more state employees than Alabama does. If we rank somewhere around 26th in population why do we need so many state employees. It's the good old boy network at it's best. Your buddy gets elected and he makes a lifetime job for you with the state government. I wish someone could explain why a small state like Alabama would be 11th in the nation in employees. Also we have more 4 year colleges than Georgia does and they have twice our population. If i am wrong on any of this I will gladly take it back.

[MyOptic]

I had spoken with my State Representative and good friend, A Democrat, and even She was totally against this monstrosity. She is a full time government teacher at our local high school, and part time legislator. She said she could welcome the additional funding for state services, but was appalled at the lack of accountability in the bill. It would have gone down a rat hole of special interests, and pork barrel spending, with her and her fellow reps to be the ones deciding where the money needed to go. She was handing out vote no signs to all who wanted one. Her position and party spoke volumes about this bill.

[Lancey Howard]

Great news BUMP!!!
Congratulations to the working, traditional American families of Alabama for telling the scumbag Democrat politicians and the parasites who elect them to go jump in a lake.

[Joe Boucher]

What the heck is wrong with these poorly educated Alabama
residents that they don't want to pony up more of their hard earned money to pay for evan more wasteful, big govt.

GOD bless these folks, they rejected stupid bigger govt.

[PGalt]

'Bama Slamma!! Common sense citizens 1, tax and spend politicians 0.

[jmaroneps37]

WWJD? Now we know. HE would have voted No!

[xrp]

Take that you Republican tax raising SCUM!