Montgomery, AL – An effort to remove the state's 4 cents sales tax from groceries has failed in the Alabama House.
A vote to bring the proposed constitutional amendment up for debate failed Tuesday. The House voted 56-42 for the bill, but that was short of the 59 votes needed to bring it up for debate in the 104-member House.
The vote fell along party lines, with Democrats supporting it and Republicans opposing it. Democratic Rep. Richard Laird of Roanoke voted against the bill and was the only House member to cross party lines.
The bill would replace the lost income by removing the current deduction for federal income taxes paid from higher-income taxpayers. Republicans opposed that part of the bill.
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