ACA decision big win for Alabama

The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a huge victory for all Alabamians, Arise Citizens' Policy Project executive director Kimble Forrister said Thursday. The ruling is especially important for hundreds of thousands of people in our state who want health insurance but can't afford it or have been denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Under the ACA, federal incentives for covering uninsured Alabamians offer a $10 billion economic boost to the state.

Read news release here.

Learn more about health care reform.

Obama tax approach would save more for low-income Alabamians, study shows

Low- and middle-income Alabamians would pay higher federal taxes next year under congressional Republicans' approach to extending the Bush tax cuts than they would under President Obama's approach, according to a study released Wednesday by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The report also finds that the top 1 percent of Alabama's income earners would pay $34,040 less on average under the GOP approach to the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts than under the Obama plan.

Read news release here.

Groups urge Alabama to use settlement money for Housing Trust Fund

Alabama should devote a portion of its national mortgage settlement funds to the state's new Housing Trust Fund, leaders of ACPP and the Low Income Housing Coalition of Alabama (LIHCA) said Monday. Atttorney General Luther Stranger announced earlier that most of the state's $25.3 million settlement will go to the Attorney General's Office, freeing up millions of General Fund dollars for Medicaid, public health and other public services.

"The people hurt the most by our nation's housing crisis deserve to benefit from the mortgage settlement," ACPP executive director Kimble Forrister said.

Read news release here.

Read our new Housing Trust Fund fact sheet.

Read Nonprofit Quarterly article here.

Alabama once again has highest state income tax for families in poverty

Alabama families living at the poverty line paid more in state income tax in 2011 than families living in any other state, according to an annual report released today by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a nonprofit research group in Washington, D.C. Alabama also came within $100 of having the nation's lowest income tax threshold for a family of four last year, CBPP found.

"Low- and middle-income families in Alabama are paying more income taxes because the state has chosen to keep taxes low for the rich instead," ACPP executive director Kimble Forrister said.

Read news release here.