By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – Jefferson County Commission's president says the county will bill taxpayers for $37.8 million in occupational taxes and business license fees.
The statement in Monday by Commission President Bettye Fine Collins follows an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that the county can collect the money retroactively.
The amount is the same as a judge ordered returned to taxpayers after ruling the occupational tax was being illegally collected in 2009.
Fine says people who paid the occupational tax may receive a refund and then a bill for a larger amount, since the refund will have attorneys' fees taken out.
Jim McFerrin, a lawyer who filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the tax, says the Supreme Court opinion does not authorize the commission to impose a retroactive tax.