December 6, 2007

Technical Difficulties

Well, I tried yesterday to attend that legislative tax committee hearing I had written about here Tuesday but it turns out the committee moved the meeting time. Based on the various versions of the meeting notice that I have in my email and hard copy swiped from a Legislative Plaza bulletin board, they moved the meeting time more than once. it was Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, not Wednesday afternoon.

Tennessee Department of Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr spoke Wednesday morning. Observers who where there tell me he spent much of his time talking about some provision of tax law as it relates to Wal-Mart. I'm also told Farr was very vague about the "loopholes" that Revenue intends to address in the next "technical corrections" legislation that it files every session. Last year, the technical corrections bill included the $3 million tax increase on propane for backyard barbecue grills. If memory serves, nearly $200 million in tax incentives and subsidies that the Bredesen administration gave Nissan for moving its move its HQ to Tennessee was included in a late-session amendment to Revenue’s "technical corrections" bill in 2005. The Bredesen administration got the amendment passed without disclosing to legislators what it really did.

Taxpayers need to pay close attention to the next "technical corrections" bill from Revenue. You can expect to see it filed late in the session. Who knows what corporate welfare or tax increase the Bredesen administration will attempt to slip by the legislature this coming session.