I would imagine if this isn't resolved to eliminate double taxation, "piss off workers, get to hire new ones" will kick in. And as the Internet never forgets things, it might be harder getting new ones. Maybe Alabama only wants residents, assuming that remote workers aren't true or desired folks?
I don't understand your reasoning at all. I was a consultant for many years and had to do projects in many states. Each state wanted us to pay income taxes for the wages we earned in their states. At the end of the year I would have to file multiple state income tax returns, thankfully my company had a team to help us do this.
So to me this seems very reasonable. You live in a state, even if you are working remotely, you would owe income tax in that state regardless of where the company you are doing work for is located. My guess is there are people living there but claiming residency somewhere else and thinking that they owe no taxes to Alabama.
No, single taxation is cool. Double taxation, as I mentioned, isn't. There's a whole lot of people in Kansas City dance with a state line every day. They have that worked out - this is something new for Alabama which needs to be resolved.
Doesn't the federal US do the same thing? If an American citizen lives in a low-tax place, US tax applies until that person's tax burden is at least as high as in the US. I'm not going to argue that this is a just thing to do, but if it's legal federally I'd like to know what's going to keep Alabama from doing it.
The special thing about the US federal tax is that it covers everyone the law covers. Most countries tax residents or some other subset, perhaps "residents old enough to work", you get the idea. The difference is the set of people who are subject to US federal law for a reason other than residence. There are things you can do that bring you into scope, including some forms of work.
