Votes cast for absent legislators
By Staff
Actions do speak louder than words.
Gov. Bob Riley's office is reacting to news that at least one Democrat cast votes in the House chamber this week for legislators who were not present when a tax bill was debated. Two of the legislators who were recorded as voting for the bill are actually overseas on an economic development mission.
Those two votes allowed the bill to receive the minimum number of votes required to pass the bill out of the House.
"Gov. Riley has been trying to make it easier for Alabamians overseas to vote, but this isn't what he had in mind. What happened on the House floor would be laughable if it weren't so serious.
"This vote was an income tax increase on one million Alabamians. Even after taking the sales tax on food off, people making as little as $41,000 a year will see a tax increase. That's a net tax increase on these middle class taxpayers.
"Gov. Riley has proposed a tax cut for middle class families, and he's disappointed the Legislature has refused to bring the middle class tax cut up for a vote," said Jeff Emerson, the governor's communications director.
Just two short years ago, the Democrats campaigned on no new taxes. When you reduce sales taxes on food, the money must be made up from other sources.
The state income and sales taxes are the primary funding for the Alabama Educational System. The taxes are earmarked for education.
Do not let the Democrats deceive you about a tax cut. As long as Paul Hubbard controls the Legislature, there will be additional taxes to take the place of any earmarked taxes that have been eliminated. The sales tax is one of the fairest taxes we have. When illegals and other non-taxpayers purchase items, they pay sales taxes to support our educational system.
I know of no other way to collect taxes from them.
I personally am tired of the double talk we get from the Legislators. As Paul Harvey says, we need to hear the rest of the story.
Jerry Fancher is Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Executive Committee. He can be reached via email at jfanchergop@yahoo.com.
