Burnt Orange Report

Worse than Alabama

By Jim Dallas

This is Burnt Orange Report, not Crimson Tide Report. Yet, we can't seem to get over what's going on down in Alabama.

Gov. Riley, a Republican, is calling Alabama's highly regressive tax system "immoral" and, with a firm footing on Christian values like "not ripping poor people off", has called for a big tax hike on the rich to keep state services going.

But Riley has also built his case on a desire to see Alabama become a truly great state, not merely competing for the onerous title of "worst state in the country."

Guess which state is one of Alabama's main competitors for that dubious distinction? That's right, Texas.

While Riley throws fire and brimstone at Alabama's tax code, it's worth keeping in mind that things are no better here. The bottom 20 percent in Alabama pay 10.6% of their incomes in state taxes each year; but in Texas, our lowest quintile pays even more - 11.4%. The average Texan pays three times as much in property taxes and about 20% more in sales taxes as the average taxpayer in Alabama.

Texas spends less money per capita than Alabama on education, health care, welfare, highways, and environmental protection. But Texas does spend more than twice as much on corrections.

In short, all that extra money poor folks pay in taxes in Texas is mostly used for locking other poor folks away in prison.

The right-wing is hoping that Riley fails, because they know what this is really about:

Now, the battle is taking on national dimensions, with conservative Republican groups in Washington mobilizing to defeat Riley's plan. "If this can pass in Alabama, it could be a precedent to attempt it elsewhere, and muddy the anti-tax message," Connors said. Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, who gave Riley as congressman his group's Friend of the Taxpayer Award every year from 1997 through 2002, vowed to make Riley "the poster child for Republicans who go bad. I want every conservative Republican elected official in the United States to watch Bob Riley lose and learn from it."

We need to rally behind Gov. Riley because a victory in Alabama could and should energize progressives and pragmatists, both Democrats and Republicans, to do what is right for Alabama, and eventually here at home in Texas.

Accordingly, I move that the Burnt Orange Report make a strong endorsement of a "yes" vote on Sept. 9, for any folks from Alabama who might just be surfing around here.

I also must enthusiastically hope that we lefties and centrists join the battle for the soul of Texas, and soon. The next legislature needs to act on tax reform, a major issue that was foolishly ignored in the last election.

There is a great potential to unite minorities, working-class whites, and people of faith (both conservative and liberal) on this pressing issue. Let's get to work!