Senate And House Republicans Bring Budget Fixes
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It’s been a week since Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh brought up the idea of gambling as a budget solution.
Now, he’s filed a bill that would add table games and bring a lottery to the state, if approved by Alabama voters that is.
“Your options are significant tax increases on the people of Alabama that I’m convinced are already paying high enough taxes, or taking gaming revenue that these gaming facilities are already here, or implementing a lottery when we’re one of only 6 states in the country that don’t have a lottery,” said Marsh.
If passed, he hopes to have a special election in September before the next fiscal year, which starts in October.
About the same time, the House GOP put out their own plan to fix the budget.
It calls for an agreement with the Poarch Creek Indians, bringing in 250 million dollars in tax revenue from their gaming.
The rest of the plan is filled with consolidation, cuts, and even taxes.
50 million dollars would come from the education trust fund.
The biggest item raises the cigarette tax by 25 cents, generating an estimated 60 million dollars.
House General Fund Committee Chairman Steve Clouse said in a statement that, “because the few taxes that it contains are pinpointed rather than broad-based, the average Alabamian will not feel any adverse effects once this plan is implemented”
The governor applauded lawmakers for seeing the need to raise taxes, but he said in a statement, “However, their proposal raises only a portion of the needed revenues for state agencies to operate on October 1.”
