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Flomaton Raises Sales Tax To 11%
March 11, 2021
The Flomaton Town Council voted Wednesday to raise the total sales tax in the town to 11%.
Due to declining revenue, the town council voted to up the sales tax by a penny on the dollar. That’s expected to boost the bottom line around $175,000 a year.
The sales tax increase will go into effect on June 1 under Alabama Department of Revenue rules.
With an the increase, Flomaton’s 11% tax will be the highest in the area, along with East Brewton also at 11%. The sales tax rate in Atmore and Brewton is 10%. Across the state line in Florida, the sales tax rate is 7.5% in Escambia County and 7.0% in Santa Rosa County. The full 11% tax applies to food and medicine in Flomaton, while those items are tax free in Florida.
Pictured: Businesses on Sidney Manning Boulevard in Flomaton NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
39 Responses to “Flomaton Raises Sales Tax To 11%”
I have only been living in Flomaton for a total of two years. My observation is a poorly run town by the leaders. Remind you,it is only my personal observation. Maybe businesses of local hardware would come to Flomaton. But I would be willing to bet,the Mayor would make it very difficult. He has one on each side of the town. Flomaton turned down Walmart for some reason. Maybe to save local businesses that didnot get saved anyway? Bad choices from maybe good people? Personal choices from bad people? When in doubt,change the leaders of the people making these choices. We do have a say.
A sales tax is very regressive tax that puts the heaviest burden on the poor.
lol, so you’re gonna spend more money on gas going to brewton or atmore? century? lol gimme a break. then you complain about no police, no fireman at the top of the hill. less city services. go ahead cut your nose off to spite your face. the school also is IN flomaton and the money you spend here goes to YOUR kids.
I needed one more reason to sell my property and move. Done!
Let’s do the math.
Say you spend $1000 in Flomaton it will now cost you $10 more.
For those Flomaton residents who say they will shop elsewhere think about this -water and garbage rates are paid solely by town residents. Sales taxes also paid by those on the way to the beach.
What do you want to do without?
Wow, lots of complaints and no common sI mean does anyone expect a town with only 1400 population to have enough income. Big towns taxes pay for rural areas WAY more per capita. 1 mile of road resurfacing cost just as much whether 1 person lives there or 10,000. Reading an economics book might enlighten some on the subject. Flomaton schools probably didn’t have enough tax dollars to teach those classes. Low population density = burden to society.
That makes a lot of sense The city is losing money to century cause taxes are too high so they make them high to make up for it that make a lot of sense
Might work great, if Florida wasn’t right next door.
Oh absolutely. Build businesses in Century. I’m sure they’re lining up to get permits right now hahaha
well I guess that will negate the chances of me stopping there for a snack, food or fuel on the way through now. 7.5% is more than enough on this end of the county. I’m sure as HELL not going to dump 11% in to a sale for a city that is poorly managed!
The failure is the towns leader ship and out of touch view everywere in the surrounding area is growing except here it breaks my heart to see little towns fail so to horrible political choice
Good job mayor and council, we’re right up there with Gatlinburg, now if we only had the businesses to match….so let’s see what your business plan is to bring in new revenue, other than on the backs of the citizens.
If 10% didn’t stop you this probably won’t.
10% in Atmore also. Food included.
New Dollar General in Century getting business before they build even.
This is good news for Century…….its an incentive for people to come to Century to shop. We need to build more businesses quickly. But who will do this?
Final nail in the coffin!!!
Another old railroad town bites the dust.
What is this, New Orleans?
On my way to Pensacola
All this does is shut down towns by taxing and not having the ability to see the real reason why that place is a failure.
A distraction from what is really going on
Over taxation without representation. Such a nice rural area that will never see any kind of progress and will see a major exodus of folks leaving town.
“Due to declining revenue”… which basically means the town is shrinking and people are leaving. Raising taxes won’t stop that, it’ll only accelerate it.
I just left Los Angeles for Pensacola. Prices are ridiculous in California, but even LA isn’t at 11%. People and businesses are making a mass exodus fron CA because it’s so expensive. Like Flomaton, they are combating this by raising taxes even more. But if high costs are the reason people are leaving in the first place,
and by leaving, you have less people paying taxes, thereby lowering your revenue, then why would you think raising it higher would fix it? There are probably a lot of people who are going to FL to buy things because it’s much cheaper, which is why they are losing out on revenue. If they raise taxes even higher, than even the people who probably just buy in Flomaton to save the hassle of driving out of state might just decide its worth it to make the trip, and now Flomaton is going to have even less revenue. I don’t understand how these leaders come up with these solutions.
This will affect the poor who cannot travel elsewhere and the uninformed, because no one with knowledge of this outrageous sales tax would spend a penny there.
Oh yes unmerited taxes to countermeasure endless amenities that come with it. Wait, that’s Brewton that has all the parks for the kids and the dogs, they have the festivals. Let me tax you and give you nothing.
Well guess i’ll continue going to Brewton and Pensacola to buy EVERYTHING.
i never like a tax increase. i can see why they did it and can see why it’s not a bad idea. MOST of their revenue is from hwy 113 and traffic passing through town. there are no stores IN town. locals for the most part buy gas out of town and century ain’t cheaper and without the food giant and the prison is a waste land.
Plus, Alabama has a state income tax which Florida does not have. Flomaton has just taxed itself out of existence. Stupid.
how do you cut out the competition undercut his price not raise yours
Waiting to hear from all the people calling for a Wal Mart to be built in Flomaton, on the 113. Still waiting.
It was too high at 10%…..even at 10% it was cheaper to drive to Pensacola or Milton for furniture or other purchases…it is an absurdity for any town in this state to have an 11% sales tax. Such silliness as this is the reason the cities of the Northeast are the rotten hulls of urban decay that they are-no one wants to live in these places because of high taxes and big government so they move South. An 11% sales tax shows zero consideration for businesses in Flomaton nor their residents.
Looks like the town council needs a lesson on taxation and the Laffer Curve.
I live just outside of Flomaton its very peaceful and i love it but I shop in Brewton and Pensacola because the taxes are cheaper. Take gas for instance I get it around 5-10 cents cheaper in Brewton.
It won’t boost the bottom line, because nobody will shop there.
Thanks for encouraging folks to come across the line to Florida to shop.
On the way to taxing theirselves out of existence.
Why not raise it to 100%? I predict this won’t work as planned.
Guess the town council doesn’t actually understand what economics is…
This is great news for Florida. I wonder if the tax increase will result in less revenue for the state of Alabama? The results of unintended consequences?
This could very well backfire on them & result in more loss than gain. I remember buying some high priced items years ago at the big Sporting goods store in Spanish Fort, & was shocked at what the sales tax total was. That was the last time I ever shopped there. NY State actually lost sales tax revenue a few years back, when expecting more millions in revenue. They raised the tax on tobacco products so high, that some quit smoking & many others bought across the state line in neighboring states, from no tax at the time Indian Reservations, or by illegal mail order. Just human nature. This will be interesting to watch what happens.
Seems they going to push more people OUT of the area to buy the things they need.
SMARTER way to get more people to come purchase things would have been to LOWER to tax rate to gain new business from folks in the surrounding areas.