Last week, State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said the extra cash in the state’s Education Trust Fund (ETF) should be used for tax rebates to help Alabamians who are struggling with inflation.
After July, the ETF had $9.7 billion in available funds, which is already well above its total yearly obligations of $9 billion.
Friday, on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” State Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) advised that tax rebates would be on the table next legislative session.
“Well, the state is awash in cash,” Garrett said. “That’s what’s happened all across the country. Most states are running huge budget surpluses because of all the federal help and assistance from COVID … So, yes — we have a lot of cash. We’ve not spent in the last couple of years what we could’ve spent according to the budget formulas we have. I think we absolutely will discuss tax rebates. We’re actually looking at the tax structure. We’ll be looking at really from the long-term structure what makes sense, so I think it’s something we’ll discuss.”
While Garrett said that some form of tax rebate is likely, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Education Committee cautioned that it was possible things could change before the next session.
“[T]here’s a long time between now and March,” he noted. “And now with inflation and all the uncertainties out there, we’re going to have to be very mindful that we don’t do something that’s permanently going to damage the state down the road.”
The lawmaker also highlighted some of the other concerns he had heard from parents and teachers about what was needed to help public schools.
“Well, I think one thing is that any money we could put into the classroom — classroom support,” he continued. “And we’ve seen more emphasis in the budget strictly on putting more funds into the classroom. Obviously the pay issues are important. I think security is more and more important, something we’ve been hearing about. I think that you’ll see the legislature address the security, make sure our schools are secure. Mental health has become just a problem nationwide in a number of areas and certainly we hear about that in the schools, and special needs areas in education.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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