Paul Till brought not only his side of the tax and accountability plan with him to our meeting, but also television and print media from Montgomery to Columbus.

He stated that ALFA had several objections to Riley’s plan. The first is that there is no real accountability. Second, that we could not trust our legislators to spend any additional monies brought into the State of Alabama wisely; and three, that the Tax Coalition did not believe this plan would really help poor families. Mr. Till believes the increases in sales tax on service would cost families more than the savings they would receive by raising the ceiling from $4,600 as a starting point for which people pay income tax to $19,000 a year as a starting point.

Mr. Till also reported that he feels “the Riley team so alienated people in this state, on this issue that he doesn’t feel any increase would pass in the near future.” ALFA believes the governor’s office used fear tactics to scare people into voting for higher taxes, when as he states, “there are no guarantees any of the money will go for education.” Mr. Till wants our legislature to go back to the table and come up with a better, fairer plan.