Alabama Voters Say "No" to Tax Restructuring and More Education Funding

On September 9, 2003, Alabama voters soundly defeated Governor Bob Riley's $1.2 billion dollar tax restructuring plan that would have provided additional funds for Alabama's already depleted school budget. Sixty-eight percent of those who voted said "No" to the changes, while only thirty-two percent voted "Yes" to the proposal. Education advocates and certain business leaders, such as the Alabama Partnership for Progress, were disappointed after the defeat, stating that the referendum would have contributed significantly to Alabama's school system.

The proposal offered a restructuring of the Alabama tax system. In addition to expanding the sales tax to include services and increasing cigarette taxes, property taxes, and income taxes for the wealthy, large landholders, and corporations, the plan also lowered income taxes for Alabama's poor and provided scholarships and other reforms. The opposition, funded by many who would have suffered tax increases under the plan, cited their distrust of the government of Alabama as one of the main reasons for the decisive vote.

In addition to fixing the upcoming $675 million deficit in Alabama's budget, the restructuring plan would have allocated more money for the state's schools. Riley never has supported a tax increase in his political career, yet the governor believed this referendum was necessary to preserve state programs, especially education services, in danger of budget cuts.

Without the extra funding, education faces cuts that supporters of the plan warned the public about in their campaign. Ed Richardson, the State school superintendent, warned, "I would say we are dismantling public education in this state. You're going to see test scores start to go down, the dropout rate start to go up."

Education advocates will be monitoring the budget cuts made during a Special Session of the Alabama Legislature beginning Monday, September 15, 2003.

Prepared September 15, 2003