One of today’s news items is a proposal in Alabama to increase health insurance premiums on overweight Alabama state employees. Dubbed a “fat tax,” it’s not, since the money presumably won’t be going to the state budget. It remains to be seen whether the increase (a nice round $25 per month) is designed to cover the costs imposed by the overweight on the health insurance program, or just a nannyish penalty designed to express disapproval and change behavior. Meanwhile, Alabama has not updated its property tax law in a long time, and it shows. Here’s what the Tax Foundation has dug up regarding property that is exempt from the Alabama property tax (among others): From Alabama Code Section 40-9-1: (7) The property of deaf mutes and insane persons to the extent of $3,000 and the property of blind persons to the extent of $12,000; (8) All family portraits; (10) All cotton, wherever grown, stored in licensed warehouses in the State of Alabama for a period not exceeding 12 months; (14) All articles manufactured in Alabama, including pig iron, in the hands of the producer or manufacturer thereof, for 12 months after its production or manufacture; (16) All poultry; (17) The property of all incompetent veterans to the value of $3,000; (21) Tobacco leaf stored in hogsheads; (26) All vessels and equipment thereon, used predominantly in the business of commercial shrimping by the owners thereof
