Let’s take a little trip.
We’re going to go backwards in time a bit – around a quarter-century. Back in time, like Marty McFly, to the bygone days of the late 1990s, when “ER” was dominating TV and Monica Lewinsky had something on her dress, and an Alabama lawmaker by the name of John Knight had this crazy idea to eliminate the state’s grocery tax.
That’s right, the 1990s.
That’s how long progressives have been advocating for eliminating the state’s tax on feeding hungry children. That’s how long the protectors of the elite and wealthy have been fighting against that repeal.
Make no mistake about it, that is precisely the two sides in this fight. One side trying to give poor people and the working class a little break on the bills. The other side trying to make sure rich people keep paying a lower share of taxes than their hired help.
If you doubt this, Google up the grocery tax repeal efforts from years back and simply read the quotes. There are the conservatives, time and again, referring to a “redistribution of wealth,” or calling it “the Robin Hood approach” or claiming that it “shifts the burden to others.” They were literally saying the quiet parts out loud and Alabama voters just went along with it.
And that’s why I’m bringing this up now.
Because I’m tired of watching so many Alabamians go along with nonsensical ideas and unhelpful plans, and vote against their interests. And elect money-grubbing, clout-chasing doofuses who sell them out over and over again – typically by using national-level talking points and scare tactics designed to divert attention away from real issues – in order to serve the wealthy and powerful.
This grocery tax repeal has literally been kicked around, studied by “study groups,” debated endlessly in committees and brought up in legislation for more than 25 years. And the best we’ve gotten so far is a penny.
One lousy, stinking, too-worthless-to-keep-printing penny.
And if y’all are real good and don’t make no fuss about that $100 million we’re forking over to rich folk to send their kids to private schools or home school them, we’ll give you another whole penny this year!
Whyyyyy, did you know that with this second cut, if you spend a $100 on groceries, you’ll save a whole $2?
Free at last, free at last.
Wake up.
These people are robbing us blind. Every single day. And you’re too busy checking behind public bathroom doors for immigrant trans swimmers to even realize it.
Right now, there’s a fight in the legislature to repeal a tax break on overtime pay. A tax break that has been too successful.
Let me repeat that: It’s been too successful.
Too many workers and too many businesses have taken advantage of what amounts to a 5-percent pay raise for workers who want to put in extra hours. And now, the majority of the Republicans who dominate Alabama’s Legislature are trying to convince everyone that it’s simply too much to bear on our poor, weak education budget.
Oddly, it wasn’t too much to bear to pass the CHOOSE Act, which stripped $100 million from that budget this year and next year, and will strip out a minimum of five times that amount in 2027 when the caps are removed. Almost all of it (around 70 percent even with the current restrictions, which also vanish in ‘27) going to wealthy families whose children are already in private schools or are home schooled.
It also wasn’t too much to bear when the legislature passed a tax break last session for the wealthiest of the wealthy in Alabama, shaving off a half-percent from the income tax rate for Alabama’s top tax bracket earners.
But when it comes to matters of the poor and working class … well, if only we could find the money. Maybe next year. Or 25 years from now. Keep holding on.
Or, and here’s a crazy idea, you could try voting for people who are actually addressing your concerns, working to solve your problems.
You might not like hearing this, but those people are Democrats.
Now, before you start spewing talking points about wokeness and libs, actually think about the reality. It was Democrats who introduced the OT tax repeal. Democrats who’ve been trying to repeal the grocery tax. Democrats who have tried to pass Medicaid expansion and fund rural hospitals. Democrats who have repeatedly tried to protect and properly fund your public schools. Democrats who have offered up a number of tax cut bills to focus on the middle class. Democrats who introduced legislation to help provide affordable child care. Democrats who created some of the most popular small business tax incentives.
In the meantime, the anti-woke bunch, who’ve spent the bulk of their time regurgitating pre-written legislation flowing from national think tanks, are focused on unhelpful, useless nonsense that never truly helps a soul. Which probably explains why they’ve been stealing ideas for decent legislation from Democrats – like the grocery tax repeal.
Stop letting them get away with it. Stop falling for the games. Start worrying about your real, actual problems and the things that would make your life better.
Because if you don’t, pretty soon, that worthless penny is all you’re going to have left.
