Alabama's income tax on poor working families is among the nation's very highest.

Milking more revenue from the sales tax is out of the question; at 8 percent, it's already the nation's highest.

Local districts pay most school costs of $10,000 per student, the nation's highest.

Gasoline prices in the Midwest are the nation's highest, at $1.874.

"The committee believes that the making of these calls was inappropriate for our nation's highest elected officials," the report states.

At $16,000, its per student spending was the nation's highest.

Today, the island has the nation's highest per capita rate of new cases, more than three times the national average.

The state's unemployment rate has hovered just below 10 percent, the nation's highest.

In the 1980's the state set nursing home rates at a maximum of $200 per day, the nation's highest.

The reduced rates are not guaranteed and would still be among the nation's highest, they say.