quote:
Originally posted by beternU:
quote:
Originally posted by Strawberri:
I am a local resident with 20 years of military service. I have paid Alabama state taxes for the last 20 years, even though my children has never attended school in the state, My family don't travel the roads and highways. For the last 20 years I haven't benefited from anything that comes from being a citizen. Don't be confused, I'm really not complaining, because I could have changed my legal resident to a state without taxes,but I felt like I would be selling out my state. I love the state of Alabama and will be moving back there upon retiring from the military. My question to you is: Should a person in my situation qualify for Tax Free license plates after retiring?
You say, "For the last 20 years I haven't benefited from anything that comes from being a citizen." Well, if you were stationed outside of Alabama and drove your car on the roads of some other state or nation or received police protection and other public services in some other state or nation or had other public benefits in some other state or nation, you were receiving taxpayer-paid benefits that you paid no income tax on. So maybe you did not receive these benefits in Alabama, but you DID receive them, and SOMEONE ELSE's income taxes in some other state or nation paid for those benefits for you while you were living out of the state of Alabama. Thus is makes sense that you are--as you say--not complaining. My point is that you did not suffer from want of taxpayer-funded benefits, irrespective of your various places of residency during your military service.
When I deployed overseas my transportation was a military vehicle and I was responsible for my own protection as well as others. In other host nations which house large American military installations such as Ramstein AB, Germany, there’s no telling how much revenue in taxes/leases/employment they generate.
So I’m not sure where you’re coming from, betternU. Are you saying the American service members serving overseas should be thankful to the taxpayers of those host nations for road use and police protection? Seems to me the benefits are on the other foot.
But do I feel Strawberri or I am entitled to a free Alabama retired vet vehicle tag? Not really. There are those who are far more deserving such as a combat disabled vet. I feel that it’s enough Alabama does not tax my retirement income. And there are states that do. But military retirement is not the only retirement not taxed by Alabama.