This week, the Alabama state legislature is meeting in special session to address Jefferson County’s occupational tax. A court has ruled that the county’s collection of the tax has been illegal since 1999, and has prohibited the county from spending the tax revenues (which it continues to collect).
The governor has now called a special session of the legislature to attempt to pass a law authorizing Jefferson County to collect and spend the tax (the county doesn’t have the authority to legislate the tax on its own). As an occupational tax is a tax on people who work in the county (rather than people who live there) some residents of nearby counties that commute to Jefferson County to work pay the half percent tax, and their representatives are opposed to re-authorizing the tax. So far so good.
Here’s where the fun starts: Rep. Craig Ford of Gadsden is reported by the Tuscaloosa News as saying “I think it’s taxation without representation,” and likewise Sen. Charles Bishop of Walker County is reported to believe “the occupational tax is taxation without representation for his constituents.” Bishop is also the senator who made news in 2007 for punching another senator on the senate floor on live television.
These legislators represent their constituents outside of Jefferson County, and they get to vote on the legislation. Just because their constituents pay a tax in county other than the one in which they reside doesn’t make it taxation without representation, even if it is unpopular. This tax is a textbook definition of taxation with representation. Saying otherwise doesn’t make it so. Way to make us proud, fellas. With this kind of represenation, it’s a wonder the legislature can’t get its business done during the regular session.
