Alabam-- you've got a wheel on the road and a wheel in the ditch.

[Rooktoven]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/national/10ALAB.html?hp

No surprise I guess. Just another state I'm glad I don't live in.

[jos]

1. Sing it Neil!

Very sad.

[ShaneGR]

2. Slash and burn time

Take away their kids textbooks. See how beholden to 'small' government they are in five years.

[Ripley]

3. You guys don't know anything about Alabama. What they

need to do is cancel high school football...that will wake them up really fast. They already share textbooks and half the kids can't do homework at home (no book).

Hit them where the future Crimson Tide is and they'll pay.

BTW I live here.

[southpaw]

5. Amen, Ripley!

As a fellow Alabamian, I know whereof you speak!

Cut out extracurricular sports and make noise about taxing churches!

Alabamians love the benefits that government provides, they just don't want to have to PAY FOR THEM!!!

I think it is time to lobby the legislature for another shot at a LOTTERY REFERENDUM!

[AP]

4. It amazes me that the anti-regressive tax lobby (big business)

would put up such a well-organized, well-funded opposition to this attempt at progressivity IN ALABAMA. It's a state so poor, big business probably has the least to lose if the tax code actually became more progressive.

It just shows you what's a stake.

It's the domino theory. If one state goes, uh, 'communist', next thing you know, it'll be Arkansas, and the Louisianna, and then Florida, and soon it will be New York and California.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. Let me get this straight...

...do you really believe that a rightwing Republican like Riley would have EVER proposed a plan to increase taxes on his political base of major corporations and wealthy supporters? Please give me a FRIGGIN' break!

This is the same guy that literally stole the Alabama election in the same way that the Bushies stole the 2000 election. Votes magically appeared long after the polls had closed in a heavily Republican county. Do you think that anyone that desperate to win Alabama's top political job would EVER turn on his constituents? Conversely, do you think that Riley's power base would have EVER allowed Riley to introduce a proposal that hurt them financially in any way?

Riley's proposal was incredibly vague in terms of how the new funds were to be allocated. In fact, the GOP controlled state legislature would have had the final say on how the money was to be spent. This state has been cutting funds to public education for as long as I can remember...and the rich have been funding as many private schools during that time as possible.

Riley's proposal also buried in the small print the fact that the middle and lower income consumers in Alabama would end up paying the lion's share of the new taxes in this proposal. Where did anyone read that the major corporations and wealthy in Alabama would have their taxes increased?

Finally, it is in the best interests of Riley, and those that own the media here in Alabama, to attribute their loss to people that just couldn't understand how a tax increase was going to help them. With fuel, utility, and housing costs rising at a rate far exceeding increases in salaries/wages, how exactly was taking more money out of the pockets of people in the middle and lower income brackets going to help them? Just how "stupid" do Riley and the supporters of this proposal really think Alabamians are?

Let's look at some numbers from the Preliminary 2002 Annual and Fourth Quarter State Personal Income and 2002 State Per Capita Personal Income analysis:
<http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrel/SPINewsRelease.htm>

Per Capita Personal Income for Alabama:
Per capita income: $25,128 per capita income
Rank: 43rd in the nation
Percent of US Average: 81%

Now consider the fact that Alabamians pay taxes at the rate of 30%, including all state and local levies. What that percentage does NOT include are all of the items that Riley's plan would have taxed: personal property (homes and autos), cigarettes (for those that smoke), and other items.

Also consider the fact that Alabama has refused to vote in favor of a lottery THAT WOULD DRAMATICALLY HELP FUND THE PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM for fear that gambling will cause crime. Meanwhile, Georgia is funding college scholarships with their lottery, a lottery that attracts Alabamians who simply drive across the border to buy their tickets. And there has been no increase in crime among the counties that share a border with Georgia.

[LizW]

7. Sanctimonious much?

:eyes:

[misanthrope]

8. Correction...

..."Your Cadillac, has got a wheel in the ditch, And a wheel on the track." Sentiment's still dead-on, though.

And the other Alabamians with suggestions about high school football are directly on target. In this state, schools exist merely to supply football teams and that's it.