Decatur council votes 5-0 to back Tuscaloosa's challenge to Alabama's SSUT administration

Decatur City Council approved a resolution 5-0 on a special call to express support for Tuscaloosa's litigation challenging the Alabama Department of Revenue's administration of the Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT). The council said the issue has a filing deadline that required the extra meeting.

The resolution, substituted on the floor for a direct intervention, affirms that the current implementation of SSUT reduces local and school tax receipts and asks the city's revenue department and legal staff to share information with plaintiffs. Speaker 4 introduced the matter and noted the urgency; council members said they preferred supporting Tuscaloosa's legal effort and providing data rather than incurring the additional cost of formal intervention.

In a presentation to the council, the presenter described SSUT as a voluntary 8% flat collection option for eligible remote sellers and marketplace facilitators and illustrated how the SSUT split shifts money away from municipalities and local school systems. The presenter said precise seller-level data were not provided by the Alabama Department of Revenue (ADOR), so loss figures are estimates. Using national online-sales percentages and commercially available data, the presenter labeled one local estimate as approximately $55,000,000 in SSUT-era revenue loss since 2016 and showed a $100 purchase example where Decatur's share under SSUT would be about 32 cents versus $3 under traditional local tax allocation.

Council debate focused on whether to formally intervene in the lawsuit versus offering support and information. Proponents said the ADOR's classification of marketplace facilitators and some delivery networks as eligible SSUT sellers effectively ignores local physical nexus and disadvantages local brick-and-mortar businesses. Opponents of formal intervention raised concerns about litigation costs and potential political ramifications; the substitute resolution was presented as a lower-cost way to back Tuscaloosa's claims and provide staff assistance.

The council adopted the substitute resolution (Resolution 25351) by roll call vote, recorded as 5-0 in favor. The resolution directs staff to coordinate with Tuscaloosa's legal team and to request available ADOR information, while making clear that some numerical estimates cited in the presentation were based on assumptions and commercial data because ADOR did not release proprietary records.

The council recessed briefly and continued with its scheduled work session.