Riley signs bill raising threshold for paying income taxes

Last week, Gov. Riley signed a bill that eases the tax burden for the state's lower-income taxpayers. From the Mobile Press-Register:

Among several changes, most focusing on lower-income taxpayers, families of four who were taxed on all income above $4,600 now will start being taxed at $12,600. The maximum tax savings for a family of four would be about $250 per year. The old threshold was the lowest of any state in the country, leading many observers to declare Alabama's system unfair and, in the governor's words, "immoral." ...

Alabama's new threshold ranks 47th, higher than West Virginia ($10,000), Montana ($10,800) and Hawaii ($11,500). ...

It's disappointing that the tax cut doesn't extend across-the-board, to include middle- and upper-income taxpayers, but it's a start.