The Tax Party: How the Alabama Power Brokers Are Picking Your Pocket While Calling It a Tax Cut

By Hanu Karlapalem, Democratic Nominee, Alabama State House District 4

You’re tightening your belt — but the Alabama Power Brokers are tightening their grip on your life.

I am running to represent the people of Morgan, Limestone, and Madison counties in Alabama State House District 4. What I see happening to my neighbors is not a tax cut. It is a tax assault.

They call themselves the party of low taxes. The Republican supermajority dominates the legislature. But Alabama families are being taxed from every direction — just not in ways they’ll admit to.

Let me name the machine plainly. The Alabama Power Brokers connect Trump’s Washington, Parker Moore’s seat in Montgomery, the Republican supermajority, and Alabama Power itself — the utility that hasn’t faced a meaningful rate case in 44 years. Same club. Same agenda. And every time they win, you pay the dues.

Let’s be honest about what a tax actually is. A tax is money taken from your pocket to benefit someone else. By that definition, the Alabama Power Brokers are running the most aggressive tax operation this state has seen in a generation.

Trump’s tariffs are a tax. According to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s State Tariffs Tracker — analysis prepared by Trade Partnership Worldwide, data through Q2 2026 — Trump’s tariffs have already cost Alabama $5.4 billion since January 2025. That is $2,635 per Alabama household. Alabama ranks #20 nationally. Auto parts account for $1.3 billion of that cost — tariff rates jumped from 1.5% in 2024 to 12.3% by mid-2026. Steel and aluminum add $1.2 billion more. 85% of Alabama’s tariff burden hits manufacturers — the factories, the supply chains, the workers in our counties who make things. Parker Moore’s response? Silence. When asked about the pain Alabama families were feeling, Tommy Tuberville said: “No pain, no gain — that’s what we used to tell our football players.” He can afford that analogy. You’re living the reality.

The Iran war is a tax. Seven months into an active conflict, regular gas in Alabama has hit $4.05 a gallon. Diesel has surged to $6.15 — up 80% from a year ago — hitting farmers and truck drivers in Morgan, Limestone, and Madison counties hardest, right at harvest season. When CNN’s Manu Raju asked Tuberville on September 23, 2026 how much that was hurting his constituents, Tuberville said Alabamians will “deal with that.” When Raju pressed — “They’re willing to pay higher prices, you think?” — Tuberville answered: “Yeah. Yeah. Sure they are.” He can speak for himself. He cannot speak for us. Parker Moore has said nothing.

Tax cuts for billionaires are a tax on you. The One Big Beautiful Bill handed massive windfalls to the wealthiest Americans while middle-class workers lost hundreds of dollars when you account for its combined impact with Trump’s tariffs. That money has to come from somewhere. It comes from you.

Data center tax abatements are a tax. For years, Parker Moore’s supermajority handed Big Tech up to 30 years of tax-free operation in Alabama — no property taxes, no sales taxes — one of the most generous packages in the nation. By some estimates, a single $12 billion data center taxed at the full rate could generate up to $150 million for Alabama communities in year one. Instead, that money was abated — and your property tax bill, your school funding, and your utility costs made up the difference. Lawmakers themselves acknowledged in 2026 that the abatements were “too sweet of a deal” and that data centers — which consume enormous amounts of electricity — were a factor driving utility costs up for Alabama families. Parker Moore’s supermajority let it run for years before trimming it. I am calling for an immediate moratorium on new data center approvals until Alabama fixes its rate structure, ensures these facilities pay their fair share of taxes, and stops shifting the electricity cost burden onto Alabama families and small businesses.

Eliminating the income tax without a plan is a tax. The Alabama state income tax funds 70% of Alabama’s K-12 education — $7.5 billion. Alabama’s combined sales tax already averages 9.46% — nearly identical to Tennessee’s 9.61%, the state most often cited as the model. There is no room to shift the burden further onto working families without gutting public education. A promise to eliminate the income tax without a replacement plan is not a tax cut. It is a bill deferred to your children.

Unsafe food imports are a tax. Starting September 1, 2026, the federal government began flooding the market with 300,000 metric tons of foreign ground beef — directly undercutting Alabama’s 1.2 million cattle farmers who already absorbed $5.4 billion in tariff costs on their equipment and inputs. Ground beef now sits at $6.86 per pound — up from $3.96 in 2020. The USDA recalled nearly 30,000 pounds of uninspected Argentine beef in August 2026. Meanwhile, DOGE cut nearly 4,000 FDA employees and food safety outbreak investigations are now running 40% above their four-year average. Alabama farmers and families pay the price.

Gutting healthcare is a tax. DOGE slashed up to 12% of Social Security Administration staff and closed local offices. The One Big Beautiful Bill cuts Medicaid for families earning up to $43,000 a year. Alabama already has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country. When the federal government stops paying, the bill lands on families, hospitals, and local communities.

The story of HB475 is the Alabama Power Brokers in its purest form. Rep. Mack Butler — a Republican — filed a bipartisan bill requiring the PSC to hold open rate hearings. Real transparency. Real accountability. It passed the House unanimously. Then the Senate rewrote it overnight, gutted every meaningful reform, and replaced it with a version that handed four PSC seats immediately to Governor Ivey’s appointees and created an unelected Secretary of Energy to control the commission’s agenda and staff. Butler voted against his own bill. “My name is on it,” he said, “but it is definitely not my bill.” Governor Ivey signed it into law the next day. Parker Moore stood with the machine.

The rate freeze runs out January 1, 2029. When it expires, four governor’s appointees — not voters — will decide your Alabama Power bill. Alabama Power will have gone nearly 47 years without a meaningful rate case. That is not reform. That is the Alabama Power Brokers running out the clock.

Corporate PAC money is a tax. When special interests write the checks to Republican campaigns, working families pay the price in rigged policy. Every sweetheart deal, every tax abatement handed to a corporation while your school district goes underfunded — that is a transfer of wealth from your pocket to theirs. Parker Moore cashes those checks and casts those votes.

The war on public education is a tax. The CHOOSE Act — signed into law in 2024 — diverts $100 million per year from Alabama’s Education Trust Fund into private vouchers, pulling money directly out of public schools. In 2026, Parker Moore voted yes on SB5, which requires schools to broadcast the national anthem weekly and threatens funding for districts that don’t comply. Schools that are already underfunded are now one bureaucratic failure away from losing even more. The result lands on your kitchen table: Alabama teachers spend an average of $703 of their own money every year on supplies the state won’t fund. Alabama parents spend nearly $875 per child on back-to-school costs. The median school supply budget provided to teachers by their schools is just $200 — and 97% of educators say that’s not enough. Trump’s tariffs are now driving school supply prices up another 12–15%. Parker Moore voted to defund the schools. Trump’s tariffs taxed the supplies. Your neighbors are paying both.

The for-profit prison industrial complex is a tax. Alabama’s corrupt prison system costs taxpayers hundreds of millions while delivering dysfunction, federal lawsuits, and human suffering. The Alabama Power Brokers protect it. Parker Moore has never challenged it. You pay for it.

The affordability crisis is a tax. When healthcare is out of reach, when housing costs are crushing, when your paycheck doesn’t cover the basics — that is a tax on your life. It is the most insidious tax of all because no one signs the legislation. It just happens — the predictable result of a machine that serves the powerful instead of the people.

The pattern is undeniable. In a single session, the Alabama Power Brokers’ supermajority moved to restrict who can vote, stripped local communities of oversight of their own clean water, drained $100 million a year from public school funding, threatened underfunded school districts with SB5, and handed your utility oversight to a governor’s appointee through HB475. Parker Moore voted with them every single time. Every road leads to the same destination: more power concentrated in fewer hands, paid for by you.

This is not the party of low taxes. This is the Tax Party. And Parker Moore is its District 4 vote.

Here’s what you can do right now. The governor has already made her appointments. The damage is done — for now. This November 3rd is your chance to break the Alabama Power Brokers’ grip on District 4 and send a representative to Montgomery who will fight to restore elected oversight and demand real reform before that rate freeze expires.

Real reform means elected oversight — not appointed control. Low taxes means taxing the people less — not taxing them differently so the bill is harder to see.

I’m running for Alabama House District 4 to build an Alabama we can afford — because the people of Morgan, Limestone, and Madison counties need a representative whose first instinct is to protect them, not to protect the Alabama Power Brokers. Economy first. People first. Constitution first.

Hanu Karlapalem is the Democratic nominee for Alabama State House District 4, has lived in Madison, Alabama for 26 years. He is a small technology business owner, UAH M.S. graduate, Life Member and former Second Vice President of the Limestone County NAACP, and Chairman of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Caucus. He has been on the frontlines fighting against hate and bigotry, for voting rights, freedoms, to protect our democracy and the Constitution. He has been married for 31 years and has deep roots in the North Alabama community through civic, professional, and community service. He is the Democratic Nominee for Alabama State House District 4

SOURCES:

Tariff figures: National Taxpayers Union Foundation State Tariffs Tracker | Trade Partnership Worldwide | Data through Q2 2026 | Updated August 4, 2026 | tariffs.org/rankings

Tuberville "no pain, no gain": Fox Business, March 2025 | AL.com report by Howard Koplowitz | Mises Institute March 20, 2025

Tuberville "Yeah. Yeah. Sure they are": CNN/Manu Raju, September 23, 2026 | Mediaite; Alternet; AL.com | Gas: AAA September 2026 (regular $4.05/gal; diesel $6.15/gal, up 80% year-over-year)

Iran war gas prices: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy; AAA; AP/NPR March–September 2026

Data center abatements: Alabama Dept. of Revenue Chapter 9B; WBRC March 25, 2026 | "Too sweet of a deal": Sen. Andrew Jones, Alabama Daily News | HB399 enacted April 17, 2026

Income tax/Tennessee: AL.com/CPA Practice Advisor July 22, 2026 ($7.5B = 70% K-12); Tax Foundation 2026 (TN 9.61% vs AL 9.46% combined sales tax)

Beef imports: Trump proclamation August 26, 2026; USDA recall August 7, 2026 (29,628 lbs Argentine beef); Alabama Reflector September 8, 2026; Federal Reserve Economic Data ($6.86/lb July 2026; $3.96/lb 2020)

Food safety: FDA/OPM via Food Navigator February 2026 (3,859 employees cut); FDA CORE outbreak data; ProPublica November 2025

Healthcare/DOGE: Senate Democrats SSA report (up to 12% staff cut); CBO Medicaid estimates (families up to $43,000); Seniors League January 2026

HB475: Alabama Reflector April 2, 2026; WSFA April 2, 2026; WBRC April 4, 2026; ABC 3340 | Butler quote: ABC 3340 | Four PSC appointments (Burgess, Johnson, Joiner, Ross): Governor Ivey press release June 17, 2026

CHOOSE Act: Signed March 7, 2024; House vote 69-34; $100M/year from Education Trust Fund

SB5: Parker Moore voted Yea April 9, 2026 | Bama Politics vote record

Alabama teacher spending $703/year: AdoptAClassroom.org 2025 Survey | Tuscaloosa Thread July 12, 2026

Parent back-to-school spending $874.68: National Retail Federation 2026 | AL.com August 8, 2026

School supply price increase 12-15%: NEA November 2025; Groundwork Collaborative/Century Foundation

Alabama Power 44 years without rate case: Last general rate case 1982 | Alabama Reflector; Energy Alabama