U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville pitched his plan to grow the state Monday during a stop in Tuscaloosa at a summit focused on Alabama’s online sales tax.
In remarks resembling a stump speech, the now gubernatorial candidate praised Donald Trump for sending money back to the states, which he said he would take advantage of as governor.
Discussing his work in Washington, Tuberville touched on the bills Congress is considering to fund the government in the next fiscal year. A continuing resolution is a likely outcome if lawmakers can’t pass appropriations bills before Oct. 1. Continuing resolutions don’t typically include earmarks, which fund specific projects in states.
“The problem with that is earmarks are not involved in that, so we cannot, and you cannot look at it and say we’re going to depend on federal money. Folks, that ain’t going to happen, because when you’re $37 trillion in debt too, you also have a problem of finding that money to send,” Tuberville said.
The White House budget office recently withheld billions of federal dollars from going to schools across the country, including millions in Alabama, before later releasing them.
Speaking to mayors from across the state, Tuberville said he would also involve local leaders to hear their ideas on what problems need to be addressed if he becomes governor.
“In any business or in state government, you got to have good people in the positions that understand what they’re doing, that can build and work and pass things along to all the cities, the municipalities, all the mayors across the state, we got to do it together,” he said.
The gubernatorial candidate also said he would focus on investing in energy in Alabama.
“We have got to get more energy,” Tuberville said.
As the U.S. Senate nears its month-long August recess, Trump is pressuring lawmakers to stay in session to confirm more of his nominees. Senate Republican leaders are deciding how to proceed, but Tuberville said he would support continuing to work in D.C.
“I’m fine with it,” he said. “You know, we’re in harm’s way right now. We need to get everything we possibly can get done as soon as we can get done.”
Tuberville also called out Democrats in a post on X Monday for efforts to stall Trump’s nominees. Tuberville’s hold on military nominations in 2023 resulted in about 400 nominations being in limbo during his months-long blockade.
The senator wrapped up Monday’s speech by comparing how he would run Alabama like he was a coach, focusing on recruiting to get industries to invest and come to the state.
Online sales tax issue
The Earn Local, Keep Local Summit on Monday largely focused on the city leaders’ concerns about the current 8% sales tax on online purchases and the distribution of that revenue. City officials in Tuscaloosa and Mountain Brook earlier this month said they planned to sue the state over the distribution of that growing tax revenue source, arguing the rate is too low compared to the taxes on in-store purchases. Meanwhile, large cities generate more money more than they’re allowed to keep, the municipalities argue.
“Today’s meetings with municipalities across the state further reinforced the fact that there is a growing consensus to address our state’s unfair online sales tax structure,” the Alabama Big 10 Mayors said in a written statement Monday. The organization represents the state’s largest cities.
“Its current structure is a problem for Alabama – it’s bad for municipalities, bad for schools, and bad for small businesses,” the statement said. “This issue must be addressed, whether through the courts or through the legislature. Every day the system continues to exist in its current form is another day where our schools, first responders and communities are losing the resources that they depend on and are rightly theirs.”
The 8% Simplified Sellers Use Tax began in 2016 and became a requirement in 2019. Fifty percent of online sales tax revenue collected goes to the state where it is further split, 75% to the state General Fund and 25% to the Education Trust Fund. The other half is split among local governments, 40% to counties on a population basis and 60% to municipalities on a population basis.
Unlike with in-store purchases, local communities don’t have an option for a separate local tax on purchases made online. Those local taxes help fund services like law enforcement, fire departments, street repairs and sanitation.
The mayors argue out-of-state retailers selling online benefit from a lower tax rate on online purchases.
“For many Alabamians, Alabama law makes it less cost-effective to shop locally,” the mayors’ statement said. “Put simply, this two-category taxation system benefits large out-of-state corporations such as Amazon and Walmart at the expense of Alabama small businesses – the businesses that make up the backbones of our communities.”
Municipal, county and state leaders agreed to the current tax distribution structure about a decade ago. Legislation to raise the SSUT and send more money to communities has failed in recent legislative sessions.
Talking to reporters Monday, Tuberville said that while the SSUT is a long-standing issue other states are dealing with too, it’s not something that will be addressed federally.
“I hate that there has to be a lawsuit from the mayors and municipalities … I wish we could work it out,” he said. He’ll watch the issue but wouldn’t say who was right or wrong.
“I just heard the mayors say we’re tired of taxes,” Tuberville said. “We’ve got enough taxes, they just need to be distributed right.”
Alabama Daily News’ Mary Sell contributed to this report.