How much is enough?

State and local tax revenues in Alabama, including here in Madison County, where I live, are the highest they have ever been. Just this past weekend, the Huntsville Times reported that the county's property tax revenues for last year could be up to 20% higher than they were in 2004. In spite of that, and in spite of the fact that Madison County is one of the wealthiest counties in the state with one of the biggest tax bases, the usual suspects are trying their best to get the county commission to approve a countywide 1/2% hike in sales taxes. From the Times last Friday:

The leaders of local business and education organizations joined Thursday to ask the Madison County Commission to pass a countywide half-cent sales-tax increase without calling for a referendum to find out if the public supports a higher tax.

The additional half-cent tax - expected to generate an estimated $21 million a year for construction and repairs in the county's three public school systems - is on the agenda at this morning's County Commission meeting. ...

All three local school boards and the boards of the Schools Foundation, the chamber and the Committee of 100 business group have passed resolutions supporting the increase. ...

The business groups and Schools Foundation pledged to help build support for a property-tax increase to replace the temporary sales-tax increase.

Thankfully, the commission voted down the proposal last Friday, but only temporarily, pending "further study." They also killed a proposal to allow voters to decide the issue directly in a referendum. Commissioners are expected to consider the sales tax increase again next month.

During Friday's discussion, Commissioner Roger Jones proposed that the commission vote on the tax increase. Commissioners Faye Dyer, Mo Brooks, Dale Strong and Bob Harrison voted against the hike. Commissioners Jones and Jerry Craig voted in favor.

Jones and Craig said they trust school officials to spend the money appropriately.

Strong and Harrison said they want to see where the money is going before they vote for the tax increase. They said they want to know if any of the money would be spent on schools in their district to relieve overcrowding and address understaffing.

In Madison County, the sales tax is currently 5.5%. Here in Huntsville, it is 8%. Proponents of the increase say it is necessary to accomodate all the new students who will be coming to Huntsville due to decisions by the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission to shift jobs to Redstone Arsenal. Of course, all the new families who move here will be paying taxes themselves; if the government would just slim down for a year or so until they are all settled, things would work out just fine. It's fruitless to bombard tax-raisers with common sense, though. Their goal in life is to increase taxes, and if this tax increase is approved, you can rest assured that it will never be repealed.

Still, hope remains. The Commission has delayed voting on the measure, which should provide ample opportunity for the opposition to mobilize. If you live in Madison County, here's who to call:

District 1 - Roger Jones: 256-828-0726 (Jones voted in favor of the increase last week)
District 2 - Faye Dyer: 256-532-1590 (Dyer voted against the increase)
District 3 - Jerry Craig: 256-723-4247 (Craig voted in favor)
District 4 - Dale Strong: 256-852-8351 (Strong voted no last week, but remains undecided)
District 5 - Mo Brooks: 256-539-6000 (Brooks voted no...and to my knowledge, his streak of voting against every single tax increase he has ever had the chance to consider remains unbroken)
District 6 - Bob Harrison: 256-532-1505 (Harrison voted no last week, but remains undecided)