In 2002, conservative Republican Bob Riley was
elected governor of Alabama on a platform of cutting
spending and freezing taxes. But within
weeks of taking office, Riley proposed a tax reform
package which promised to increase the state's tax
receipts and reduce its tax code's highly regressive
character. The tax reform package was submitted
to the voters in September 2003, and rejected by
more than a two to one margin. This article examines
the electoral politics and geography of Riley's
efforts to reform Alabama's tax system including
the spatial pattern of voting on the reform package.
It finds that Riley's political base of Christian
conservatives was substantially responsible for the
reform package's defeat. Conversely, those counties
providing a majority of their support for the
Governor's effort were nearly all substantially African
American, and had voted for Riley's opponent
in the 2002 gubernatorial election.