Grocery Tax Removal Hits New Hurdle

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Democrat-led movement in the
Legislature to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries is
snarled in a Republican effort to end annual property tax
reappraisals for homes statewide.
And this dispute threatens the grocery tax legislation in the
closing days of the 2008 legislative session.
Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffe, a Democrat, says this is simply a
ploy to kill something important to the people of Alabama,.
But Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner of Vestavia Hills, a
Republican, says it's an effort to make Democratic legislative
leaders keep a campaign promise they made in the 2006 elections.
That's when their "Covenant for the Future" promised an end
annual property tax reappraisals.
Meanwhile, the General Fund budget is on the Senate calendar and
could pass Tuesday or Thursday.