Democrats would rather close tax loopholes than cut teachers, make them pay more for insurance (AL)

[eppur_se_muova]

By David White -- The Birmingham News

MONTGOMERY -- Democratic state lawmakers on Wednesday said they would rather raise taxes on big corporations by closing loopholes than pass a budget for next year that would pay for 1,125 fewer teachers and make public school employees pay more for pensions and health insurance.

"We have to close the corporate tax loopholes to improve our education, to keep the morale of teachers up, to not punish our teachers and not burden our teachers, trying to balance this budget on their backs," Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said at a press conference.

The House of Representatives late Tuesday night passed and sent to the Senate for debate an education budget that would pay for 1,125 fewer state-funded teacher positions in the 2012 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
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Susan Kennedy, an attorney working for AEA who used to be chief counsel for the state revenue department, said closing what she considers to be loopholes used by multi-state or multinational corporations could raise $200 million a year.

For instance, she said some companies in Alabama pay management fees or rent to sister companies in Delaware, which has no corporate income tax. Those fee or rent payments keep profits within the parent companies but reduce taxable income earned from Alabama operations, thereby reducing Alabama tax collections.
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more: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/democrats_would_rather_close_t.html




Good for them -- AL Dems aren't going down without a fight, despite losing the legislature for the first time in decades.

[OHdem10]

1. Smoke and Mirrors. The Transnationals come out smelling like

roses and not so much everyone else.