Soda, cigarette and business tax increases on the table (again)

Wow! Well someone finally answered the question I asked a few days ago, who are the members Governor Robert Bentley was talking about when he said there were members willing to support his tax increases.

Senator Clyde Chambliss stepped up and held a press conference Thursday to tout a budget proposal he said will fix the crisis and lo and behold it includes tax increases.

The problem is that it includes tax increases that have already been ruled out by the majority of his colleagues and residents throughout Alabama.

According to his press release Chambliss proposes, “To backfill the revenue lost to the ETF, his plan includes new revenue of $226 million to the ETF in the form of taxes on cigarettes, soft drinks, and a change to the business privilege tax. The cigarette and soft drink taxes will immediately sunset after three years to give legislators time to accomplish structural budget reform.”

I know that Chambliss is active on social media. I’m wondering if he’s missed the memo that over 17,000 people have supported a Facebook page dedicated to “Stop the Alabama Beverage Tax.” Most of those people haven’t just liked the page they’ve spent time leaving strong opinions against the proposal and sharing it with their friends.

I’m wondering if he’s visited their website where over 9,294 individuals and groups have stood up to say they don’t support this tax.

As for cigarette taxes…that’s been tried and failed. I don’t believe that too many people have changed their minds in the last several weeks.

While I give the Senator credit for coming up with a plan. I sure hope that this baseline is something others can use as a starting point for a plan that doesn’t include tax increases quite likely to fail repeatedly.