Occupy Mobile activists will set out from Cathedral Square on Sunday, March 4, 2012, on a roughly 190-mile walk to Montgomery protesting Alabama’s tax on groceries, which they say places a disproportionate burden on low-income families.
Marchers plan to gather with supporters at 10 a.m. in downtown Mobile’s Cathedral Square before departing on a 12-day journey along U.S. Highway 31 and other rural routes. The group says it expects to reach the state capitol on March 15, in time for a rally at the State House organized by Alabama Arise, a Montgomery-based advocacy group that has also opposed the grocery tax.
Why marchers say the tax matters
The march aims to push lawmakers to represent working families rather than corporate interests, one organizer said, arguing that corporations enjoy large tax incentives in exchange for jobs while working people are left to pick up the tab and struggle to put food on the table.
Alabama is among the few states that apply its full sales tax rate to groceries, a policy critics say hits poor residents hardest. Supporters of the tax argue it keeps overall state revenue stable.
Occupy Mobile said it would post updates, photos and details of the towns along the walking route on its March to Untax Groceries website as the journey unfolds.