Riley also attempted to raise the income tax threshold three years ago, with strikingly different results. His plan then was to cut taxes for the poor and raise them for the rich, netting hundreds of millions of dollars of additional revenue to combat a budget shortfall and invest in education. That effort died when Alabama voters overwhelmingly rejected it at the polls.
The difference this time around was that Riley and legislators chose to cut taxes for the poor without an accompanying increase for the rich. In an election year and with the budget picture now significantly brighter, lawmakers were happy not to have to tell anyone that their taxes were going up. The result was that an issue that generated colossal acrimony only three years ago was the subject of near universal agreement -- despite some wrangling over the exact size of the cuts.
But, before you think that Alabama politics has turned into nothing but sunshine and rainbows, it's worth noting that this year's reforms are rekindling a debate about the 2003 plan. Low-tax proponents say that the ability of the state to offer tax cuts now proves that tax increases were unnecessary then. On the other hand, Riley's Democratic opponents argue that it proves he is a hypocrite, while education advocates say the state's schools remain seriously underfunded.
