Op-Ed Columns

Last week, Alabama made news again, leading the nation in a very important category — taxes.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Alabamians pay the lowest amount of taxes in the nation. Nobody in any other state keeps as much of their hard-earned money in their pockets than do the people of Alabama.

Alabama's low taxes did not happen by accident. A Democratically controlled Legislature and Democratic leadership have brought about such low taxes in Alabama. Our ranking was accomplished by Alabama Democrats and outstanding management at all levels of government — state, county and local. I assure you that state Democrats will keep it that way.

This is further proof that our philosophy of government — keeping the tax burden low, providing a pro-business climate and investing in our schools, colleges and universities — is a formula that works.

Lower taxes mean that you keep more of your own money, money that you spend, and not money that the government takes and spends for you. Money in your pockets is money that strengthens our economy, creates new jobs and improves our quality of life.

It is exactly that formula that we have used for years, and as my grandmother used to say, "The proof is in the pudding." Look no further than Alabama's growing automobile industry, an industry that didn't exist until Gov. Jim Folsom had the vision and will to create it. Low taxes and quality workers attract business, and, coupled with state incentives, created the business atmosphere that attracted Mercedes to Alabama.

Remember the cynicism and the laughter from some quarters that Alabama "paid too much" for Mercedes and the gamble wouldn't work? Then came the suppliers. Then came Honda to Lincoln. Then came more suppliers. Then came Hyundai to Montgomery. And even more suppliers. Kia set up shop right across our border in Georgia to draft on the automotive corridor we created.

The automobile manufacturers that have made Alabama their home — Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai — were all recruited and secured by Democratic administrations. Now thousands of Alabamians work in one of the greatest auto industry environments in the world, working in high-paying jobs for companies pumping billions into the Alabama economy. Billions. Who's laughing now?

That's how you increase revenue for Alabama schools. You don't raise taxes on Alabamians; rather, you expand your tax base and bring high-paying jobs to our communities.

However, we can never be satisfied with our progress. We must be vigilant. That's why during the last legislative session, the Democratic leadership cut taxes even more. We gave Alabama families a $57 million income tax cut on their federal stimulus rebate checks. We gave small business a tax break, giving these employers help in providing health insurance for their workers. We created a tax break for families who save for college. And we came within one vote of eliminating the sales tax on food and groceries.

Every member of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted to eliminate the sales tax on food, cutting taxes for 80 percent of Alabama families. It failed because not one Republican voted to cut the tax, not a single one.

At the same time, we can never forget that a highly trained, highly educated workforce attracts the jobs of the new century. Therefore, we must continue to invest in education, in good economic times and bad. Alabama education has received record investments this decade. Even in this year's tough economic period, we still set priorities in education and increased funding for the Math and Science Initiative and distance-learning programs.

Most important, we doubled the size of our nationally recognized pre-kindergarten program. This is just the beginning of our goal — to give voluntary pre-K to every 4-year-old whose family wants it, and to make pre-K free for every Alabama family. We don't charge for the first grade and we don't charge for the 12th grade. Pre-K should be free, and one day it will be.

You're going to hear from the editorial elites and the university pontificators who will say that low taxes is a bad thing, that Alabama needs higher taxes and government needs to spend more of your hard-earned money on more services.

Folks, don't believe it. This isn't some high-minded economic theory. We are just following good, ol' Alabama common sense, and that common sense says low taxes coupled with an educated workforce and a pro-business atmosphere works every time.

We're not done. Next session, we will try again to eliminate the sales tax on food, and if Alabama Democrats have their way, it will be gone forever. If so, once again we will be national champions in taxation. With continued Democratic leadership, we intend to keep Alabama taxes the lowest in the nation.

Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, is chair of the Senate Rules Committee.
E-mail: lowell.barron@alsenate.gov.