Tax increase begins today

Susan Patterson said the cash register at her business, Village Interiors, has been reprogrammed and ready for the first day of the new sales tax increase.

Beginning today, businesses throughout Colbert and Lauderdale counties will be collecting an additional half-cent sales tax. Proceeds from the increase will go to economic development in the two counties.

Patterson said she doesn't believe the half-cent increase will affect her business, which is in Rogersville.

"We sell home decor and gifts; I don't think (the sales tax increase) will hurt us," Patterson said.

Patterson said she doesn't believe people will mind spending the extra half-cent to help boost economic development in the Shoals.

"I haven't heard any negatives," said Colbert County Commissioner Rex Burleson. "People understand how important this is to the area."

The tax increase is expected to generate an estimated $6 million a year.

All the money collected from the sales tax will go into a fund to be used exclusively for economic development. A group of elected officials, known as the Shoals Industrial Development Committee, must approve all expenditures from the fund.

The Alabama Legislature approved a bill during the 2007 session giving commissioners in Colbert and Lauderdale counties the authority to increase the sales tax. The commissions passed the increases in June.

Tax collection officials with AlaTax, the company that collects taxes in Lauderdale County, and Shoals Tax Service, the company that collected Colbert County taxes, sent notices to all area businesses so they would be prepared for the increase.

"We combined a notice and new reporting forms in the information we mailed out to all our businesses," said Don Allen, owner of Shoals Tax Service. "We called some of the larger businesses to make sure everything was in place."

Allen said all businesses in the two counties had almost 30 days to get ready for the increase.

"Everybody should be squared away and ready to start collecting the extra half-cent," said Lauderdale Commission Chairman Dewey Mitchell, who also serves as the county's probate judge.

Burleson said the sales tax increase has already helped with economic development, playing a huge role in landing National Alabama, a boxcar company that will employ 1,800 people at Barton Industrial Park.

"The money is going to bring what the people have been screaming for, jobs, industry," Burleson said. "The citizens are going to be a part of this, because we're all going to benefit from new jobs, new industry.

"A half-cent is not too much to pay to put people to work."

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@timesdaily.com.