This is regarded as insanity, a word that nobody seems to apply to the fact that a state where only 16 percent of the public has college degrees is thinking about eliminating almost a quarter of the higher education funding for the second half of the year. One really useful lesson in all this is that state constitutions are actually important. Alabama s was written a century ago, at the behest of the big agricultural landowners and steel-mill barons. Their political theory so elegant in its simplicity was that taxes on plantations and factories were undesirable. This is the most screwed-up tax system in America, bar none, said Mr. Bronner cheerfully.
Sales taxes are unpredictable and they hit poor people hardest.
Alabama has thoughtfully made its system worse through a series of exemptions, so that it taxes food, baby formula, diapers and shoes, but not haircuts, baby-cow formula, fertilizer or coffins. Everybody was very excited the other day when Senator Richard Shelby, the main man in Alabama Republican politics, gave a speech in which he suggested that the state raise the money for the schools by eliminating those sales tax exemptions for cars and coffins and combines and whatnot. I had written a little piece for our newsletter, praising him for being bold and everything, said Paul Hubbert, the executive director of the Alabama Education Association. Mr. Hubbert, who is one of the most powerful men in the Capitol, says education lobbyists approached Mr. Shelby about joining a bipartisan united front for tax reform and quality education. If everybody stood together, Mr. Hubbert claims, the Democratic governor and legislative leaders were ready to hold hands and take the heat.