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Alabama Senate Approves Refund Contributions to Wall Organization

Posted on Mar. 26, 2019

The Alabama Senate has passed a bill allowing residents to contribute their state income tax refunds to an organization asking for donations to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

S.B. 22, introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh (R), would allow Alabama individual income taxpayers to contribute to We Build the Wall Inc. beginning in the 2020 tax year. Under the bill, the organization would be dropped from the state’s voluntary income tax refund check-off program if it ceases to exist or fails to average $7,500 in annual gross contributions for the three years after its adoption. The bill cleared the Senate on a 23–6 vote on March 21.

The bill also provides that if an income tax refund recipient fails to expend the funds within three calendar years, it is required to return the funds to the state Department of Revenue to be deposited into the general fund and would be dropped from the state income tax return the succeeding tax year.

We Build the Wall Inc. was founded by Brian Kolfage, who organized a GoFundMe project to solicit donations to help fund a wall on the southern border. According to the project’s GoFundMe page, the project changed direction in January from just receiving donations that would be turned over to the federal government to fund the wall to creating the 501(c)(4) organization to build the wall itself.

The 35-day federal government shutdown that began in late December 2018 was partly because of the impasse over President Trump’s funding request for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Here in Alabama, we understand we must build the wall and secure our southern border,” Marsh said in a March 22 Facebook post. “Congress must stand with President Trump to protect our country.”

According to the bill’s March 15 fiscal note, the organization could receive a maximum of $29,471 each year based on contributions to the check-off programs in fiscal 2018. The analysis noted that the bill would increase the administrative obligations of the DOR, but that the cost will be offset because the DOR is allowed up to 5 percent of collections for the cost of administration.

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