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Can anybody decipher the punchline here? I am not a paid subscriber.

(06-10-2016 04:02 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  Can anybody decipher the punchline here? I am not a paid subscriber.

Its not a subscription article...

But if Judge Graffeo's ruling isn't overturned, it's likely those plans will be stalled at least a year as Smith said they plan to introduce a new bill during the next legislative session to fix the issue.

"Since all individual tax laws go through the state, we plan to introduce local legislation on a bill to the Alabama Legislature to address it, because this really affects all 67 counties in the state," Smith said. "We plan to move forward on (on the stadium project) regardless of the appeals process."

It's unclear when a ruling will be made on the appeal of the tax ruling. A request for comment from Jefferson County Attorney Carol Sue Nelson wasn't immediately returned.

This explanation illustrates the problems Alabama has due to the Constitution of 1901 which gave the state legislature almost complete control of how taxes are set up and collected in Alabama. The ONLY local taxes that a city or county can raise on its own are those on sales which is why Alabama has among the highest such taxes - the most regressive of all taxes - in America. All other local taxes must be first agreed to in the legislature and some require a statewide constitutional amendment vote as well - and we have had over a thousand of those just since 1901.

Though some didn't like B'ham raising the minimum wage in the city, the fact that the state could pass a law telling local municipalities they were barred from doing that reminded all cities that they were on a very short & tightly controlled leash held by the state legislature and backed by the state courts. Welcome Alabama to the 20th century -- only 100 years too late.

(06-10-2016 04:10 PM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  

(06-10-2016 04:02 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  Can anybody decipher the punchline here? I am not a paid subscriber.

Its not a subscription article...

But if Judge Graffeo's ruling isn't overturned, it's likely those plans will be stalled at least a year as Smith said they plan to introduce a new bill during the next legislative session to fix the issue.

"Since all individual tax laws go through the state, we plan to introduce local legislation on a bill to the Alabama Legislature to address it, because this really affects all 67 counties in the state," Smith said. "We plan to move forward on (on the stadium project) regardless of the appeals process."

It's unclear when a ruling will be made on the appeal of the tax ruling. A request for comment from Jefferson County Attorney Carol Sue Nelson wasn't immediately returned.

Does this sound like the stadium will be built using current revenue/funds and the BJCC renovations will wait on the appeal process/local legislation?

(06-10-2016 04:10 PM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  

(06-10-2016 04:02 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  Can anybody decipher the punchline here? I am not a paid subscriber.

Its not a subscription article...

But if Judge Graffeo's ruling isn't overturned, it's likely those plans will be stalled at least a year as Smith said they plan to introduce a new bill during the next legislative session to fix the issue.

"Since all individual tax laws go through the state, we plan to introduce local legislation on a bill to the Alabama Legislature to address it, because this really affects all 67 counties in the state," Smith said. "We plan to move forward on (on the stadium project) regardless of the appeals process."

It's unclear when a ruling will be made on the appeal of the tax ruling. A request for comment from Jefferson County Attorney Carol Sue Nelson wasn't immediately returned.

Thanks for the information. It's a paid article for me, because I have exceeded their 3 article/30 day limit.

There is a rule in the lege that they can't pass financial bills until the budget has been passed. This is intended to push them to get the budget done instead of waiting until the last minute. It does not work, but as a result any such bill requires an exception to be passed before it can be dealt with. This was not done regarding the BJCC funding measure.

John Roger's suit was that the funding was illegal as a result, which was how it was judged. The ruling is under appeal. The bad part is that it can't be fixed by cutting Rogers in on the pork. The bill has to be repassed correctly before the money can be released. Thus the delay. Unless we win on appeal we're screwed till next session.

The State Capitol building was a sad, sad place. I hope I never set foot in that building again.

While this is screwed up and the state government should be abolished, this would not be a problem if UAB was treated like every other university on the planet and could just, you know, build the facilities it wants/needs on its own with the billions in revenue it generates

Fire Ray Watts.

(06-10-2016 08:57 PM)FNblazer Wrote:  The State Capitol building was a sad, sad place. I hope I never set foot in that building again.

You knew when you walked in and they saw that free UAB sticker which way it was gonna go automatically. It ticked me off when I talked to the rep from Huntsville (REPRESENTATIVE DANIELS, ANTHONY) and he told me straight out that his constituents at UAH were against the whole change up of the board issue. I never spoke with him much after that, but from what he and one other told me I lost hope with UAH.
But!! If we have to go up there again, and my schedule is as free as last time, I'll be up there every trip.

The only way it ever changes is if we are persistent and keep the pressure on. If we accept the half measure we won, we'll always be taling bammer's table scraps.