May 4, 2005

State Income Tax Ban Stalls

The AP reports that the sponsor of a proposal to amend the Tennessee constitution to explicity ban a state income tax has "indefinitely delayed" her proposal after some lawmakers raised objections to it.

Rep. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, was seeking to put the issue in front of voters in 2010. Her proposed amendment to the constitution would specifically prohibit a state income tax on earned income.

Many opponents to such a tax say that it is already unconstitutional, pointing to a number of Tennessee Supreme Court opinions stretching back a century. They worried that Beavers' proposed amendment could cloud the picture, especially if voters were to shoot it down.

"Does this conflict with our stated position?" Sen. Jamie Hagood, R-Knoxville, said during debate yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The state constitution of Tennessee in fact does prohibit a state income tax - as thre different state Supreme Courts have ruled unanimously over the years - but Tennessee's current attorney general has come up with some clever legal reasoning he thinks will convince the current state Supreme Court judges - mostly liberal Democrats - to overturn those past rulings.

The argument has a gaping hole, but that might not matter to the liberal Democrats on the bench.

Beavers' proposed amendment would simply allow voters to add to the constitution some clearer language on the issue. Republicans ought to push the measure forward. Even if it doesn't make it through the legislative process and onto the ballot, every vote on the proposal is another chance to expose how our legislators really feel about a state income tax.