A national study released Wednesday showed Alabama makes families living in poverty pay higher income taxes than any other state.

The study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities comes a few days after a U.S. Census report showed Alabama residents and businesses overall pay less in state and local taxes than their counterparts in any other state.

In the 2007 fiscal year, the average of state and local taxes collected per person in Alabama was $2,909. Mississippi finished 49th at $2,989. The national median was $4,011.

That doesn't mean everyone in Alabama is enjoying low taxes.

"At the lowest incomes, we have some of the highest taxes in the nation because our system is upside down," said Chris Sanders, policy analyst for the Arise Citizens' Policy Project in Montgomery, which is funded by churches and other groups to speak out on behalf of Alabama's poor.

The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington publishes a report each year on how states rank in levying income taxes on the working poor.

Based on 2008 figures, the new report said a family of three earning at the federal poverty level of $17,165 will pay $333 in Alabama, which is the highest tax rate in the country.

The study said an Alabama family of four earning at the federal poverty line of $22,017 will pay $483, which is also the highest tax rate in the country.

For many years, Alabama had the lowest threshold for taxing the working poor. Changes enacted for 2007 dropped Alabama to third in the center's rankings. But the report showed Alabama is back to No. 1 in some categories and on the verge of being tops in other categories because other states have been reducing their taxes on the working poor. Continued...