This is an opinion column

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By David Sher

Coach Saban seems to understand what we are giving up by living in Alabama.

Last spring, my wife and I attended our grandson’s high school graduation in Atlanta.

We are so proud that our grandson had been accepted to Georgia Tech.

But then it hit us.

Our Atlanta son and his wife will not have to pay college fees!

However, our daughter, who lives in Vestavia Hills, will have to pay tuition for both of her children.

Awards from the State of Georgia HOPE Scholarships to qualified high school age.

Students who live in Georgia and earn at least a 3.0 GPA (B average) may attend Georgia public colleges or universities tuition-free if accepted.

“Founded by the Georgia Lottery since its inception in 1993, the HOPE Scholarship Program has helped more than 2.1 million students at eligible state public and private universities and public technical colleges with over $14 billion in financial aid.”

Alabama families, unless their children attend Birmingham City Schools, have no comparable scholarship option. However, Birmingham City Schools excels Birmingham Promise scholarships to all high school graduates to tuition-free Alabama public colleges or universities.

If my Birmingham grandchildren lived in Georgia, they would meet the HOPE scholarship criteria and qualify for free in-state college educations.

Then I started thinking, what else are we giving up by living in Alabama.

Nick Saban retired to Florida

In January, Nick Saban announced that he was retiring and moving to Jupiter Island, Florida,

There are probably many reasons why Coach Saban chose Florida, but one of them has to be financial.

Saban paid $17.5 million for his 6,200-square-foot homewhich features “marble floors, a floating staircase, floor-to-ceiling glass walls, a private garden, a jetty and a boat lift.”

He is a member of Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, one of the state’s top private courses. The ultra-exclusive club requires an initiation fee of $125,000 and a $17,300 annual fee.”

Saban paid $133,020.94 in property taxes last year.

Coach Saban can certainly afford these luxuries – he has one estimated net worth of almost 100 million dollars.

But Saban will be able to pay for many of those nice things from what he saves by not living in Alabama.

Florida has no state individual income tax. Alabama’s top income tax rate is 5%.

I really don’t know how much Coach Saban makes annually, but let’s make a conservative estimate of $10 million.

He signed a multi-million dollar a year contract with ESPNowns nine car dealersis paid $500,000 per year by the University of Alabama as a consultantand May still talking to the Aflac duck.

If this estimated income is correct, Coach Saban saves approximately $500,000 per year by avoiding Alabama’s income tax. It would be financially insane for Saban to remain at Alabama.

Okay, Coach Saban’s income is outrageous, but what about the rest of us?

All residents of Alabama who earn $4,500 or more per year, which includes almost everyone, owes Alabama income tax. It may not be enough to encourage you to move out of state, but it does add to our cost of living.

And it gets worse

We travel to Destin every year for our family beach vacation. We stay for about a week and do a lot of food shopping. Florida does not charge sales tax on food items. It really hurts when we get home and go to the grocery store and have to pay the VAT.

But it’s not just food. Alabama has 5Th the highest VAT rate in the U.S

Five states have no sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.

Many municipalities around Jefferson County, where I live, charge sales tax as high as 10%. (State 4%; Jefferson County 1%; Municipalities 4-5%)

it’s 10% more than 93% of the counties in the country.

The people in Arab Alabama Pays 12.5% sales tax — the highest in the state.

Alabama…

• Does not offer tuition-free college scholarships
• Imposes as much as 5% individual income tax (two neighboring states levy none)
• Rate some of the highest sales taxes in the country

Of course we have low property taxes which is really good for wealthier people, but a lot of them, like Coach Saban, have moved out of state.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He has previously chaired Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham) and City Action Partnership (CAP).

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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro in Birmingham. [email protected] .