No pay

Alabama's Legislature must return for a special session this summer after failing to pass a general fund budget during the regular term. Republicans in the state Senate, who took part in a five-week filibuster to protect the interests of the Christian Coalition and, in turn, brought the Lege to a standstill, are vowing to forgo their salary during the special session.

Such charitable gestures may become more frequent as hard times predicted for Southern states hit home.

Did we say, hit home? Here's another way, as reported in today's Anniston Star, that states are going to feel the pinch:

When wealthy Alabamians die this year, the tax man is collecting a portion of the wealth they leave behind, but none of those tax revenues are staying in Alabama.

Under tax changes adopted by Congress in 2001, the federal estate tax on inherited wealth is to phase out gradually by 2010. But states stopped collecting their share this year, leaving the Internal Revenue Service holding all estate taxes collected.
That means wealthy families still see a cut taken from their inheritances, but none of that money flows into their state’s barren budget coffers.

“It hurts,” said Ron Bedsole, Estate Tax Supervisor with the Alabama Revenue Department. “And the main reason it hurts so bad is because the estate tax funds the General Fund, which is in financial peril.”