Food for thought? Let me figure the tax on that . . .

Many of you have been out in the past few weeks helping the victims of last month's horrible tornadoes. You have seen the devastation, and you know that in some areas, like Alberta and Pratt City, the houses that were destroyed or heavily damaged were not insured, because some of those areas that suffered the most already suffered from decades of economic struggle, a struggle that had become even more intense in the past couple of years. A struggle that requires choices among necessities. Do I insure the house or do I buy food and medicine or school supplies or gas to get to work? Or maybe landlords have chosen to cut costs by cutting insurance.

You've seen the victims coming to get food and household necessities at the local distribution centers. You may have put them in their cars or delivered them to their door. You have seen the looks of desperation, of weariness, of determination and of gratitude.

And the next time you see these same folks at grocery stores in Alabama, they will be paying a four percent sales tax on the necessities of life.

We have patted ourselves on the back here in Alabama for our neighborly response to the April disaster, and it has been inspiring.

So what sense does it make to give a few dollars worth of canned goods and diapers to a family, and then require that they pay a few hundred dollars in taxes on food in the next year as they try to restart their lives?

It would seem to be a no brainer. If you believe the signs at protests and the statements of the politicians you would think that abolishing the sales tax on groceries would be on every political party and candidate's platform in big, bold emphatic letters.

But instead, unless the people of Alabama continue to do the right thing they have started with the response to the tornadoes, the next time you see these folks at the grocery counter they will still be paying a four percent tax on the necessities of life. That amounts to about two weeks worth of groceries a year.

Why?

So the rest of us can get a tax deduction. So that we can afford to buy those SUV's and minivans we use to deliver canned goods and diapers to the distribution centers.

The deduction we get on our state income tax for federal income taxes paid is paid for by sales tax on groceries. So that the rest of us who need a deduction because we make enough money to worry about deductions instead of income can afford something more than the necessities of life.

Period.

That's it.

Poor, victimized Alabamians, the ones we have been straining to help for four weeks, the ones we have tried to lift up will spend hundreds of dollars in taxes on food this year so that the rest of us can get a tax deduction.

We need to do another kind of right thing. Get rid of the grocery sales tax now. Call your legislator now.

Only one other state taxes groceries like Alabama does. You guessed it. Mississippi.

Please, please, please don't let us be the last. We are better than that.

To those who have been given much, much will be expected.

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