Last Updated:May 08. 2008 1:26PM
Published: May 08. 2008 1:26PM

A bill to remove the state sales tax on groceries stalled again Thursday in the Alabama Senate, and time is running out for its consideration.



Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, tried to get the Senate to begin debate on the bill, but he fell one vote short of the required number to open discussion. Sanders made a similar effort April 30 and fell three votes short.



The Legislature has one more meeting day left in its 2008 session, and Sanders said he will try again. "It's not dead for this session," he said.



The bill is a proposed constitutional amendment that would remove the state's 4 percent grocery sales tax and would raise the threshold where a family of four starts paying the state income tax from $12,600 to $20,000 in annual income. The bill would replace the lost revenue by removing the state's income tax deduction for federal income taxes paid, which primarily benefits higher-income taxpayers.



The Senate voted 20-11 with three abstentions to begin debate on the bill, which was one vote shy of the required number. The Senate also would need 21 votes to pass the bill.



Most of the Senate's Republican minority opposed beginning debate.



Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, said many middle-class citizens in his suburban Birmingham district would pay more taxes because of the loss of the income tax deduction.



"To me this is a socialized approach to tax reform and I cannot be for that," he said.



Waggoner said Republicans were willing to compromise if proponents would add an amendment ending Alabama's annual reappraisal of homes for property taxes, but Democrats refused.



The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, won approval in the House on April 15 by the minimum number of votes required. If it passes the Senate, it would not take effect unless approved by Alabama voters in the general election Nov. 4.



Sanders and Knight have been trying to remove the state sales tax on groceries without reducing state tax collections for several years. This is the closest they have come.



Removing the state sales tax on groceries would cost $320 million annually, while the income tax changes would generate $345 million - a net increase of $25 million annually for the state.



Sanders said Alabama and Mississippi are the only states that don't remove or reduce the state sales tax on groceries or that don't provide a rebate to the poor.



Pointing to the tax breaks provided to Alabama farmers, Sanders said, "There is something wrong in Alabama when we decide we ought not to tax food for calves but we tax food for babies."



Alabama, Iowa and Louisiana are the only states that give a full deduction for federal income taxes paid.



A U.S. Census Bureau report issued last year said that in fiscal 2005, Alabama collected a total of $2,569 per person in state, county and city taxes - the lowest amount of any state. Mississippi finished 49th at $2,575.