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Editorial: Alabama Property Tax

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By Collin Gaston - bio | email

  • Editorials

  • Friday, May 18 2012 7:20 PM EDT2012-05-18 23:20:53 GMT
    If you text and drive it's a matter of WHEN and not IF you will be involved in an accident. The odds are stacked against you when your eyes and hands are more focused on your cell phone than they are
    If you text and drive it's a matter of WHEN and not IF you will be involved in an accident.  The odds are stacked against you when your eyes and hands are more focused on your cell phone than they are the other motorists on the roadways.

  • Tuesday, May 15 2012 7:20 PM EDT2012-05-15 23:20:31 GMT
    On our editorial suggesting that the governor raise taxes to fund Medicaid, we received these comments: "If the budget is passed at this severely cut rate, the shortage of physicians, hospitals, and clinics
    On our editorial suggesting that the governor raise taxes to fund Medicaid, we received these comments:

  • Tuesday, May 1 2012 7:20 PM EDT2012-05-01 23:20:35 GMT
    If your commute includes I-85 in the mornings I'm sure you've noticed men alongside the roadways picking up trash and road debris and thought to yourself "who would want to do that?"
    If your commute includes I-85 in the mornings I'm sure you've noticed men alongside the roadways picking up trash and road debris and thought to yourself "who would want to do that?"

  • Friday, April 20 2012 7:20 PM EDT2012-04-20 23:20:42 GMT
    For the next sixty seconds I want you to give yourself permission to push pause on whatever you are doing and listen and reflect for a moment. I did this recently after reading an article titled "Top five

  • Wednesday, April 18 2012 7:27 PM EDT2012-04-18 23:27:31 GMT
    Representative Christopher John England (Tuscaloosa) has sponsored a bill in the Alabama legislature that would allow convicted felons of drug crimes to receive food stamps under certain circumstances.

The ruling is in and Alabama's current property tax system does not unconstitutionally discriminate against black and poor schoolchildren.  So says U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith in an 854-page ruling.  Judge Smith said there are flaws in the current approach to funding schools, but the plaintiffs did not prove that the system violates children's civil rights or the constitution's equal protection clause.

This case was brought about by a group of parents who alleged in the lawsuit that their children attending school in two rural counties receive an inadequate education because of the state's low property taxes. Judge Smith didn't disagree with this point and I quote, "The children of the rural poor, whether black or white, are left to struggle as best as they can in under funded, dilapidated schools.  Their resulting lack of an adequate education not only deprives those students of a fair opportunity to prepare themselves to compete in a global economy, but also deprives the state of fully participating, well-educated adult citizens."

So – we Alabamians have won the argument that our property tax system is constitutional. That is good thing.  What isn't good and needs continued attention and debate is the correlation between low property taxes, woefully under funded schools and the resulting lack of a strong education for our children. I'd like to see an 854-page report on solutions to this problem.

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