How Alabama Taxes Compare

Well, the deadline has come and gone. We’ve spent hours working on our own taxes until we can’t stand to look at them any longer. Take a break…and look at Alabama’s tax revenues for a while.

Since late 1988, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama has produced an analysis of Alabama’s tax revenues. Relying on the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual survey of state and local governments across the country, we are able to

 

determine how Alabama taxes and revenue compare to other states. In the analysis, state and local spending are considered together because states vary greatly in how they divide up the responsibilities for funding government services. This report considers data from 2015, the most recent year available.

Alabama’s state and local governments collect less in taxes than state and local
governments in any other state in the union.
 

This has been a basic fact of life in this state since the early the 1990s. It lies at the root of our perpetual struggles to balance state budgets. It underlies the difficulties we face when trying to provide to our citizens the level of government services enjoyed by citizens in other states.

As a bottom line, Alabama governments have less tax money available finance the operation of services like schools, roads, courts, health care, and public safety.

 

Explore PARCA’s report, How Alabama Taxes Compare, at the link below. See how Alabama’s tax system fares against our southeastern neighbors and what that means for our state.

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