Grocery Tax Will Not Go Away

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - An effort to remove the state's 4 cents
sales tax from groceries has failed in the Alabama House.
A vote to bring the proposed constitutional amendment up for
debate failed Tuesday. The House voted 56-42 for the bill, but that
was short of the 59 votes needed to bring it up for debate in the
104-member House.
The vote fell along party lines, with Democrats supporting it
and Republicans opposing it. Democratic Rep. Richard Laird of
Roanoke voted against the bill and was the only House member to
cross party lines.
The bill would replace the lost income by removing the current
deduction for federal income taxes paid from higher-income
taxpayers. Republicans opposed that part of the bill.


(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)