This calculator is intended to give you a personal estimate of the impact of proposed state tax changes recently passed by the Legislature. We have assumed that all of the tax changes became fully effective in 2002, so that you can compare them with your actual 2002 taxes. The tax changes actually will be phased-in over a number of years, which means that you won't see the impact all at once as we have assumed here.

You will need the following to make your estimate as accurate as possible:

• A copy of your 2002 Alabama Income Tax Form
• A copy of your 2002 Federal Income Tax Form
• If you are a homeowner, the October 2002 assessed value of your homestead
• If you own one or more automobiles, the most recent assessed value of each one (which is included on the receipt for your automobile registration)

Congress recently adopted a federal income tax cut. To get a complete estimate of the tax changes that are coming, you should consider the amount of your federal income tax cut along with the change in your state taxes. In order to determine the change in your federal taxes, we recommend you go to one of the federal tax calculators that can be found on the internet. You may want to do that now, using your 2002 income tax data, or wait until you are prompted later in this calculator. We find the calculator of the Heritage Foundation to be simple and easy to use, but you may want to use H&R Block or TurboTax , which are more detailed, or any other calculator on the web. You will need to print out the results page from the calculator you use.

This tax calculator is solely an estimation tool and should not be used for any other purpose. Information entered into this tax calculator is not saved on your hard drive or our hard drive, nor is it stored or transmitted anywhere else.