Please Keep Your COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE straight!

This morning's The Birmingham News contains an article by Phillip Rawls about Alabama's income tax system in comparison with other states. The headline jumped out at me for more reasons than one:


Alabama puts highest taxes on poor than other states


First of all, that is a sad commentary about our antiquated tax system. Second, the grammar is incorrect. "Highest" with the "est" on the end is a SUPERLATIVE. It is used to show the farthest range (up or down) of something. The word "than" suggests a COMPARATIVE of one tax rate with another. The writer has mixed two different levels of comparison. The sentence should read as follows:


Alabama puts higher taxes on poor than other states.
OR
Alabama puts highest taxes on poor of all states.


Phillip Rawls gets the comparison language correct in the first paragraph of his article when he writes:


A new national study shows Alabama levies more income tax than any other state on a family of four living at the federal poverty line.


Hm-mmm. Maybe someone else botched the headline. I'll give Rawls the benefit of the doubt on this one.