For anyone who always wanted to pay more state taxes, an Alabama state senator has a solution — a GoFundMe campaign to fix the state’s budget shortfall.
Sen. Paul Sanford’s campaign has raised $1,120 from 64 people over six days as of Wednesday afternoon to plug a $300 million hole in the Alabama budget.
In the description, Sanford writes that “Legislators are debating possible financial solutions but are finding that Raising Taxes are not wanted by the citizens of Alabama. Rather than have the Government come after your hard earned money you can now send an amount that fits your budget, even request where your money be used.”
Presumably, if the campaign doesn’t succeed, Alabama taxpayers will have to make up the shortfall somehow, through taxes, a cut in government services, or state financial borrowing.
The Alabama constitution requires a balanced state budget, which has been done through balancing the books “with lies and sleights of hand,” according to The Huntsville Times.
Moving money around various funds and borrowing has let the state keep a balanced budget on paper, but those times appear to be ending as the shortfall widens.
