With less than half the 2022 legislative session days remaining, there are still some bills on the docket under consideration, including a package of tax relief bills.
Included among those is Senate Bill 290 (SB290), sponsored by State Sen. Tom Butler (R-Madison), that would eliminate the so-called business privilege tax.
Among the bill's 16 other sponsors is State Senate President Pro-Tem Greg Reed (R-Jasper), who during an appearance on Alabama Public Television's "Capitol Journal" touted the legislation as "significant."
"[T]he most significant element of that this week was there was a bill introduced by Senator [Tom] Butler from up in Huntsville," Reed explained. "And that is the elimination of the business privilege tax. That's been an issue that's been a hard one for businesses to feel good about, and we've heard over and over again, 'Why are we paying this privilege tax to be a business owner in the state of Alabama?' It has a pretty good price tag to it as far as a loss of revenue to the state's budgets.
"I think it's about $25-27 million. And in doing that, we felt like this is a thing we want to support our businesses. We want to support small businesses, in particular. So if there's a way to eliminate this privilege tax, then let's work on it. So the legislature, the Senate, in particular, dove into the thing. We had the budget chairs involved trying to figure out, 'Hey, how can we eliminate this and come up with ways to fill the gap if we're going to do that.'
"It's been a strong effort, but that bill was introduced. It'll have to go through the process, something real important in that package of tax relief for the people of Alabama, in particular for businesses."
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