March 2, 2005

Wheel Tax Greaser Update 3

Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel becomes the first mainstream-media journalist in Tennessee to report on the wheel-tax legislation that would have made it easier for county commissions across Tennessee to raise wheel taxes - and stripped Tennesseans of the right to overturn such tax increases via a petition drive and referendum.

The headline of the story implies the legislation has been killed, and the lead says it has been "shelved," but at the very end of the long story Humphrey reports that the legislation actually isn't dead, only that action on it has been "postponed indefinitely" while its backers "work toward building support for the measure, which was a priority for county mayors across the state in a survey earlier this year" by the Tennessee Association of County Mayors.

Humphrey notes that talk radio discussed the story, but fails to mention that work of blogs - primarily this one - on reporting the story, digging into the details of how the legislation was crafted, and following its progress in the legislature. Humphrey waited until the story reached a conclusion before informing his readers. My first post on the story was published on Feb. 24, six days before Humphrey covered the story. Six days in which readers of the Knoxville News Sentinel were under-informed about an important piece of legislation that could have cost them money and taken away an important right.

How important? In the last few months, residents of eight counties in Tennessee have used the petition-referendum right to overturn wheel tax increases at the ballot box. If this legislation had already been law, all of them would now be paying higher wheel taxes.

Last month, the Blount County Commission voted 12-8 for a wheel tax increase, but that vote fell short of the required two-thirds majority. If the legislation had already been passed, the wheel tax would have been increased between $10 and $30 - and the people of Blount County would no longer have the right to use a petition drive to get the issue on a referendum ballot where they could overturn the tax increase.

Blount County is just outside Knoxville and within the circulation area for the Knoxville News Sentinel. The simple fact is, if talk radio and blogs hadn't done the real work of informing the public about the wheel tax legislation and you had relied on the Tom Humphreys of the world to keep you informed about the legislature, this legislation may well have passed without you - without the good people of Blount County - ever knowing about it.

Are news blogs like this on journalism? Sometimes. But often they're better than that.

Here are the links to all of my past coverage of the story:
Wheel Tax Greaser Update 2 - March 1
Wheel Tax Greaser Update - Feb. 28
Wheel Tax Spin - Feb. 25
Wheel Tax Legislation Gets a Flat - Feb. 25
Legislation Greases Wheels for Wheel-Tax Increases Across Tennessee - Feb. 24

The full text of Humphrey's story is in the extended portion of this blog post.

Wheel tax bill goes flat Legislation would allow passage of levy without referendum By TOM HUMPHREY tomhumphrey3@aol.com March 2, 2005

NASHVILLE - Legislation that would allow county commissions to raise wheel taxes without a public vote was shelved Tuesday, with Republican sponsors retreating from their previous support of the measure.

Fred Congdon, who is pushing the bill as executive director of the Tennessee Association of County Mayors, said it is a matter of "local autonomy." Ben Cunningham of Tennessee Tax Revolt contends that it simply strips people of a right to vote.

Consideration of the taxing method has stirred ire among voters in Knox and Blount counties. Under law, a county wheel tax can be enacted or increased in two ways - by a "private act" in the Legislature or by a two-thirds vote of a county commission.

When a county commission approves a wheel tax, however, the law also provides that, if enough county voters sign a petition calling for an election, the tax cannot take effect unless it is approved in the subsequent election.

The bill in question eliminates the possibility of an election petition as well as enactment of a wheel tax by private act. As introduced, it also eliminates the requirement of a two-thirds majority on county commissions, although Congdon and Rep. John Hood, D-Murfreesboro, House sponsor of the bill, said they are open to restoring the two-thirds majority requirement with an amendment.

The idea, said Congdon, is to let county commissions and county mayors decide their own financial fate. Commissions would still be able to make the tax subject to a referendum if they chose, but it would not be required.

Last November, 10 of 11 wheel tax proposals failed in county votes when subject to a referendum, including Polk, Rhea and Union counties in East Tennessee. Knox County voters approved a wheel tax increase after county commissioners adopted a backup provision that would have raised property taxes if the wheel tax increase was defeated.

Last month, Blount County commissioners failed to pass a wheel tax increase on second reading.

Since November, Congdon said, voters in Carroll and Dickson counties have approved wheel tax increases. Those elections, coupled with the Knox County situation, show that "when voters have a choice between property tax increases or raising the wheel tax, they had rather have the wheel tax," said Congdon.

Cunningham characterized Congdon as "a lobbyist funded by our tax money who is fighting against taxpayers trying to take away our right to petition our local governments."

Tennessee Tax Revolt has actively opposed the bill on its Web site, www.tntaxrevolt.org. Some radio talk show hosts have also urged listeners to call lawmakers in opposition to the bill.

Since the effort against the measure was launched, Sen. Mike Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, withdrew as primary sponsor of the bill in the Senate on Monday night and Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey has withdrawn as a co-sponsor. Sen. Douglas Henry, D-Nashville, is now primary Senate sponsor. In the House, Republican Reps. Jerome Cochran of Elizabethton and David Davis of Johnson City have withdrawn as co-sponsors.

The bill was scheduled for a vote Tuesday in the Senate State and Local Government Committee, but Henry instead postponed action indefinitely. Congdon said that does not mean the effort to pass the bill is being dropped but that backers want to work toward building support for the measure, which was a priority for county mayors across the state in a survey earlier this year by his association.