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Home > Breaking News from The Huntsville Times > Shared - Birmingham
Expert testifies Alabama property tax system is not
unusual, people just don't like paying
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Published: Thursday, March 24, 2011, 8:16 AM
By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times
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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- A tax expert testified Wednesday that
Alabama's property tax system is not unusual compared to other states,
even though it charges the lowest rates in the country.
The testimony of David Brunori, a professor at George Washington
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University in Virginia, came on the third day of a federal trial in which
the plaintiffs are seeking to overturn Alabama's property tax system.
Brunori said what stands out about Alabama's tax system is not its structure but the decision by
Alabama residents that they don't want to pay much in taxes.
"The people of Alabama choose not to tax themselves at as high a rate as other states," Brunori
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Brunori said Alabama's approach of including much of its tax law in the state constitution, its use
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of referendums to approve tax hikes, its classifications of property and special low rates for farm
and timberland are not unusual in other states.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs are expected to challenge Brunori's claims with other witnesses.
The plaintiffs contend the state's property tax system discriminates against black schoolchildren
through limited assessments of valuable farm and timber property and a complex system for
raising taxes.
The lawsuit against the State of Alabama is being brought on behalf of families of black
schoolchildren in Lawrence and Sumter counties and families of white schoolchildren in Lawrence
County.
Brunori, who testified for the state, said the major changes to the tax structure occurred in 1901
and 1978, both periods of widespread anti-property tax feeling around the country. Brunori said
he is a fan of property taxes as a way to fund local government services, but he acknowledged in
most surveys Americans say they hate property taxes more than any other tax.
Brunori listed some of the reason: they tend to come at year's end and can be surprisingly large;
they regularly go up; and the increases don't necessarily bring with them any new benefits.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/03/expert_testifies_alabama_prope.html
3/24/2011
Expert testifies Alabama property tax system is not unusual, people just don't like paying |... Page 2 of 3
Dr. Wayne Flynt, emeritus professor of history at Auburn University, also completed his testimony
Wednesday.
Flynt said in the early 1970s when Farm Bureau advocates wanted a tax system that benefited
large agricultural and timberland owners, they were advised to include residential property taxes
in the same property class. They did so, Flynt said, with Farm Bureau executives praising thenHouse Speaker Rankin Fite for the idea.
The result, Flynt said, was referendum voters in 1972 faced a possible 30 percent property
assessment if the vote failed, but a 15 percent assessment if they voted yes. The measure
passed. Property taxes were lowered again in 1978, with homeowners getting a cut to 10 percent
assessment along with agriculture and timber property.
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khelben
What's this?
March 24, 2011 at 8:34AM
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Can anyone find out how we compare on the percentage difference between our different
classifications and the differences of other states. I knew that most states had differences, but
I would really like to know how the disparity between the different rates stack up against
others.
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