The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

They charge property taxes that bear some relation to reality. Alabama's 1907 Constitution was designed to do two things, write Jim Crow laws into the Constitution and to protect large landholders from property taxes. We run the state on sales taxes, which are regressive and go up and down with the economy - when the economy is bad we have to cut services just when they are needed most, throw the schools into proration, lay off state employees, freeze raises, etc. Property taxes are steady and predictable, allowing intelligent budgeting. Therefore, Alabama will not depend on them.

But look on the bright side - US Steel and Drummond Coal and the like pay low taxes! They're job creators! We won't talk about what happens to people who are not large landowners - look over there! Oooh, shiny! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!


Actually, since our property taxes are so low, it is an incentive for US Steel, Georgia Pacific, whoever, to leave land here dormant and cheap while spending money to develop land in states where they pay more tax. We cut our own throats several ways at once. Paying 10% in sales tax is ridiculous.

I wonder what it is like to live in a state that is in the top ten for efficient state governance. I wouldn't know, myself.