Well here goes, my first political post. Arrggghhhh, taxes.
Anyone here have any feelings one way or another about it? Is this going to hurt or help Alabama, and how so?
Gov. Riley is planning a $1.2 billon tax on the citizens of Alabama, supposedly to augment education in the state. The vote is for Sept. 9th. Yet the ballot does not specify this tax will be used for education, but rather, it is to go into the Rainy Day Fund...to be used by politicians as they see fit.
I am for education, but I will vote the way the ballot is worded, "no" because of the wording of the ballot, i.e the money may or may not be used for the Reading Initiative. There is supposed to be an accountability committee appointed to oversee the spending. My question is, how much authority do they have to enforce the education spending?
One thing I'm concerned with is, the property tax on timberland will be based on current value, and not current use. Imo, this will cause timber companies to pass the taxes along to hunters, who pay this tax. Leases will double for the hunters, thus effectively shutting down hunting in the state...a multi million dollar business here.
Will land owners choose to develop land previously used for hunting leases? That means cutting down trees to put in neighborhoods, out in the middle of nowhere. What if all land owners started doing this? If the hunting leases double, how much business will Alabama lose? Hunting could become closer to being the sport of kings here in Alabama, because of the cost involved. I tell ya, it ain't cheap now; $10 per acre for good hunting property, and that's a bargain.
If there was a guarantee, some of this tax money would be used for education, I would vote for it. The way I see it, the wording on the ballot needs to be changed before I will vote higher taxes. I do not want this tax money going to fat cat politicians and their rainy day fund.
Reword the ballot to say some of this tax money will be used for education. I'm not convinced, and I don't buy it, the way it is worded now. So far, the only arguments I've read from supporters of this new tax, say, we'll still have the lowest property tax in the nation. Or college professors have their say by denigrating the Christian Coalition, saying they are stepping out of bounds by being involved in politics, and then saying they are not doing the work of Jesus. Evidently they don't know the CC is a political special interest group by their own admission, and don't involve themselves with charity work churches do.
What really puts up a red flag for me is, on the website, Gov. Riley refers to the state of affairs in Alabama as a crisis, yet wants to raise taxes during this economic crisis. Threats abound that football and band programs will be cut out, (they've used that one for the past 5 years trying to raise tax), police will be cut back, prisoners will be let out of prison in droves, the elderly will lose their medical drug payment relief, etc... Ad nauseum.
Well, I've had my rant. Thanks for listening, and I am interested in what you have to say. Guess this topic mainly concerns Alabamians, but I'm open to opinion for anyone who cares about the subject.
Les
