Hidden Taxes
High Costs of Constitution Reform

Alabamians hate 'taxes,' so other terms are found by politicians MONTGOMERY - Alabama politicians are a clever bunch when it comes to avoiding the ''T'' word. You can't blame them. In taxaphobic Alabama, even the mere hint of higher taxes can jeopardize the re-election hopes of any public official who even mentions the word. It's amazing that citizens are willing to pay $150 a month for premium cable television and a personal cellular telephone yet howl at the prospect of paying just $10 or $20 more per month in property taxes (which is deductible on income taxes) for better public schools. Then they'll turn around and spend $5,000 a year on private schools because they perceive their public schools to be so cruddy. Many of those same whiners are the ones pounding the most for politicians to get off their butts and fix schools and other state problems. So governors, legislators, county commissioners and city council members usually try to find a way to increase revenue without technically levying a tax. ''Revenue enhancement,'' a phrase coined under the late George Wallace, is one disguised term. Fees, levies and tariffs are other popular buzz words. Floating bond issues (translation: borrowing money) is another common way to raise money without taxing. Never mind that bond issues have to be paid back, with interest, usually with future tax sources. Former Gov. Fob James came up with a doozy several years ago when defending his support for a tax on cellular telephones for mobile 911 service. James argued it wasn't a new tax but an ''inclusion.'' His reasoning: residential and business customers began paying the 911 tax years before cellular telephones were invented. James said the levy merely brought cellular telephones in line with an existing tax. A proposed tobacco tax several years ago is another good example of political doublespeak. What began as a straightforward 16-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes evolved into a craftily worded piece of legislation calling for an ''assessment'' against tobacco companies. The assessment was essentially a privilege tax. Cigarette makers would in turn pass that cost on to consumers. Gov. Don Siegelman seems to have a case of taxaphobia. Siegelman, who ran on a no-new-taxes pledge, is pushing a $110 million borrowing plan to offset cuts in the education budget to colleges and schools. The governor blames the cuts on the national economic downturn. The debt will saddle state taxpayers with $250 million in bond repayments over the next 30 years just to bail out education this year. The administration is also playing one of the oldest tricks in the book to avoid facing dire fiscal realities - shifting what otherwise should be state responsibility on to the backs of local governments. One illustration of that was evident last week when several county sheriffs, fed up with the state's refusal to remove state inmates from county jails, bused more than 100 state prisoners to a Montgomery penitentiary and literally dropped them off at the gate. Many counties are under court order to purge their prisoner roles because of overcrowding caused largely by state inmate backlogs. Some counties have raised local taxes to build new jails to handle the overload. More tricks Siegelman pulled another clever money trick last week. The governor signed an executive order that reduces the amount of sales taxes retailers can keep for handling and processing state and local sales taxes. By lowering the cap from $900 to $200 per retailer, some 1,500 businesses will be affected. The adjustment will resulted in about $8 million more annually for the state. The extra money will help repay a $110 million bond issue - yet another borrowing plan - for the renovation of state parks. Retailers say lowering the cap is a ''tax'' on business no matter what way you look at it. Charles McDonald, executive director of the Alabama Retail Association, said retailers will likely pass the higher cost of doing business on to consumers. © The Huntsville Times. Used with permission.

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