Being last is not always bad
By Staff
Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow
For years, Alabama has been almost dead last in many important categories that we wish we weren't.
The popular phrase "thank God for Mississippi' came about because if it weren't for our neighbor to the west, our state would be last in things like child poverty, senior assistance and other critical categories.
We've made great strides in improving our rankings. Our test scores for student learning have jumped remarkably over the past two years. We've extended health insurance to more children of working families than almost any other state.
Our unemployment rate is one of the best in the nation. And we rank 40th in the nation for per capita income, ahead of other states around the South and across the country.
But there is one area where Alabama comes in dead last, and it is a point of pride for us in the Legislature. Alabama has the lowest taxes in the nation.
A new Census Bureau report again found that Alabama collects less state and local taxes than any other state in the nation. It is nothing new; Alabama has been ranked lowest or almost the lowest for taxes over the past couple of years.
The Census compiles and counts all state, county and city government taxes and comes up with an average total.
In Alabama, these three government entities collected $2,782 in taxes per person. Alabama was the only state in the nation to collect less than $2800. Our state and local governments collected $918 less in taxes per person than the national average.
We have significantly less taxes than even our fellow Southern states. Florida collected $3,693 in state and local taxes per person, and ranked 26th highest. Georgia collected $3,321, ranking 35th among all states. Tennessee and Mississippi collected $2,838 and $2,822, ranking 48th and 49th respectively, just in front of us. And then there is us.
There is no doubt that Alabamians like our taxes this way. It is easy to remember how Gov. Riley's tax plan was overwhelmingly rejected in 2003.
Part of the reason we have the lowest taxes is because we have the lowest property taxes in the nation. Now there are some positive and negative consequences of having the lowest taxes in the nation. We certainly squeeze every penny to make sure we get the most out of it.
We've had to cobble together budgets to fund vital programs like Corrections and Public Health. We have the most bare bones Medicaid program, and worst of all, we are constantly trying to scrape up money for education, the one place we should never scrimp.
This year we had to cut back K-12 education by almost three percent and universities by ten percent because of the faltering economy and the resulting drop in tax revenue. Experts recognize that education is essential for economic growth, and that cuts in the system could cause us problems in future. Hopefully the economy will bounce back and we can send more money to the classroom.
If Alabama had collected the nation average in taxes, state and local governments would have received an extra $4.2 billion. Now that certainly will never happen, and not that it should. But even if we had collected what Mississippi takes in, there would have been an additional $184 million to use on important programs with benefits for everyone, including education.
So what is the solution? One step is to make sure everyone is paying their fair share of taxes. This year the Legislature closed some of the worst corporate loopholes, like major retailers paying themselves rent and taking a deduction, and reclaimed millions of revenue for classrooms.
But no matter what we do the fundamental principle remains: keep taxes low. Because when it comes to taxes, it is a thing we are happy to claim dead last.
Johnny Mack Morrow is a state representative for Franklin County. His column appears each Wednesday.
