LexisNexis shows the Birmingham News is owned by Advance Publications, Inc., Staten Island, New York and the Birmingham Post-Herald is owned by Scripts Howard Inc. also of New York.

Ordinarily the fact that Alabama's two most prominent newspapers are owned by New Yorkers would not be a problem. New York owned Birmingham News and Post Herald are very supportive of Governor Riley's $1.2 billion tax increase. That should be very offensive to Alabama citizens.

In a week long series of editorials in May 2003, The Birmingham News argued for reform of the way we run and pay for state government in Alabama. "We have been saying for years that Alabama's taxes, and the ways we can spend our tax money, are unfair, inefficient and inadequate." wrote Tom Scarritt.

The following wrote editorials for the News. Tom Scarritt is editor of The News. Eddie Lard is an editorial writer for The News and editor of the Commentary section. Joey Kennedy is an editorial writer and editor of the Opinions page for The News. Bob Blalock is editorial page editor of The News.

New York has some of the highest taxes of any state in the nation. See New York's standing among the Best and Worst States for Taxes. To save you the trouble, New York ranks 48th as the worst state for taxes. Only two other states have more punitive tax laws than New York and they are Washington at 49th place and Connecticut at 50th place. By comparison Alabama ranks 4th in the Best and Worst States for Taxes.

Alabama also has the third highest paid State School Superintendent in the nation. Alabama's school administrators are some of the highest paid school administrators in the nation, all with lower taxes. Alabamians should be asking why Alabama's schools rank on the bottom of performance-based assessments.

Governor Riley's proposal to raise Alabama's taxes by $1.2 billion per year will scare business away and unfairly penalize Alabama citizens while doing little to alleviate the self-imposed budgetary problems facing Alabama.

Businesses do not pay taxes. Consumers pay taxes. Ultimately the business share of the $1.2 billion tax increase will be passed down to consumers as the cost of doing business in Alabama.

What do New Yorkers have to gain by seeing Alabama taxes increase by $1.2 billion per year? Alabama citizens should have a problem with New Yorkers trying to dictate Alabama's tax laws.