Alabama may balance budget by cutting tax breaks

In 2015, Gov. Robert Bentley will propose Alabama's first major revenue-raising package since voters defeated Gov. Bob Riley's $1.2 billion tax package in 2003. Since that defeat, Alabama's General Fund budget has been patched together with borrowed money, federal stimulus funds and other non-recurring revenue. Bentley says he's working a bold, long-term solution that he will have ready for the new Legislature when it convenes in March. Bentley says everything is on the table for a solution, but the ideas mentioned by him and Republican legislative leaders focus on tax exemptions and deductions. Bentley says he's not interested in expanding gambling as a solution because it's not a stable form of revenue.