TN Tax and Budget News:

Putting the Cart Before the Horse, December 3, 2006
The Tennessean serves up its opinion on the future of the gas tax and transportation funding in Tennessee, and tosses out this line that's true, but misses the real issue:Road revenues should pay for roads, but where does the money...

Strike Two: Tennessean Gets Gas Tax Story Wrong, December 1, 2006
It's been a bad couple of days for the credibility of The Tennessean - and also not a very good couple of days for many of Tennessee's conservative political bloggers, who blindly accepted the newspaper's account of two completely different...

Set Up?, November 27, 2006
With Tennessee Comptroller John Morgan pushing a proposal for the legislature to take over local public schools statewide, and to fund them with a new statewide property tax, tax control activist and blogger Ben Cunningham sent me the text of...

Unpaid Sales Tax on Fur Coat Gets Hubby in Trouble, August 11, 2006
By Ben Cunningham Lauren Chumley is the Tennessee Commissoner of Revenue. This article has an interesting profile and the story about the husband who got in hot water. She estimates that the state is losing $450 million because Tennessee taxpayers...

Philanthropy by Force, August 10, 2006
By Ben Cunningham Now here is a new one, a "Quality of Life Tax". Apparently the concept didn't go over very well in West Memphis....

Tennessee's Surplus Grows A Surplus, August 9, 2006
The state of Tennessee finished July and the 2005-06 fiscal year with $411.2 million more revenue than was necessary to balance the state budgeted adopted at the beginning of the fiscal year. That's about $100 million more than the surplus...

Tax Freeze from Hell, August 8, 2006
By Ben Cunningham This is what happens when your property taxes are so high that no one can justify building new buildings. You have to freeze the taxes of anyone willing to build or expand. This transfers their tax burden...

Congressional Rankings, August 5, 2006
By Ben Cunningham There are three Congressional ratings that are very useful in determining if a Congressperson is an advocate for low taxes, limited government and economic freedom. They are National Taxpayers Union,Citizens Against Government Waste, and Club for Growth....

Maury County Commission, August 5, 2006
By Ben Cunningham Interesting article in the Columbia Daily Herald about all the new Maury County commissioners. This paragraph struck me: Other newcomers include John Goodloe, principal of Spring Hill Elementary School; Felicia A. McClain, an Educational Insights employee; Ty...

Tennessee's Surging Tax Surplus, May 3, 2006
Democrats Move to Break Spending Cap to Spend Surplus The Associated Press reports that "economic analysts told the State Funding Board Wednesday Tennessee will have a large surplus this budget year because of a strong economy." The story continues:University of...

You couldn't make this stuff up even if you tried, January 7, 2006
By Ben Cunningham In an interview this week Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton was asked about a new ordinance approved by two thirds of Memphis voters last year. The law requires city employees to live in Memphis. Apparently this is causing...

"Tax freedom" = 1984 Newspeak, January 6, 2006
By Ben Cunningham Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton and Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton say they need more "tax freedom". They "made a unified plea to state lawmakers, asking for the power to create new taxes." Ok, class, lets review: Shelby...

Major Tennessee Business Group Backs TABOR, December 31, 2005
Ben Cunningham sent along a link to the PDF of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry's legislative agenda for 2005, which includes (on page 7-8) an endorsement of the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights concept. Specifically, the organization, which represents...

The Fix is In, December 30, 2005
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, has a must-read blog post sounding the alert on the latest push by some in the state legislature to make your income subject to taxation - by letting cities and counties levy "payroll" taxes. He...

New auto assembly plant for Tennessee?, December 26, 2005
by Ben Cunningham A new KIA auto assembly plant for Tennessee? Could be. Rest assured that the Tennessee Department of Economic Development is trying to hand over a very large pile of your taxpayer money to get this deal. It...

The Presumption, December 26, 2005
By Nathan Moore Ben Cunningham, who is eminently more qualified than yours truly to address taxation issues, has just posted about the desire to extend taxation to business software not otherwise taxed - an uber personalty tax, if you will....

Government always needs MORE?, December 26, 2005
by Ben Cunningham The post below about private contractors being so much more effective and efficient than efforts supervised by the government would, I believe, not surprise most citizens. However, when government bureacrats make a decision about revenue they virtually...

Sen. Henry to Taxpayers: Shut Up, December 21, 2005
The Associated Press has taken note of news first reported on blogs - a proposal by state Sen. Doug Henry and the Tennessee Association on Intergovernmental Relations to strip Tennessee citizens of their longstanding right to vote on local and...

Sen. Henry Pushes Elimination of Referendum on Local Sales Tax Increases, December 17, 2005
Here's some good news for potential state Senate candidate Bob Krumm involving the current occupant of the Senate seat that Krumm is eyeing. State Sen. Douglas Henry - who last March was backing legislation that would strip Tennesseans of their...

Quadruple Bogey, December 17, 2005
The Chattanooga Times Free Press has an interesting story today about the state of Tennessee's government-owned unprofitable golf courses, following up on a recently released Tennessee Center for Policy Research study that found that six of the eight state-owned courses...

Another Secret Deal, December 9, 2005
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Blount County officials are refusing to tell the public details of incentives offered to Denso Manufacturing Tennessee for the company's $185 million expansion in Maryville, even though those incentives are funded by tax dollars,...

How to Take $64 Million From the Taxpayers Without Anyone Noticing Until It's Too Late, December 4, 2005
The Sunday Tennessean has the inside story of how the Bredesen administration and a very sharp Nissan consultant got the state legislature to give Nissan $64 million of taxpayers' money without the legislature or the public knowing what they were...

Taxpayer funded lobbying, November 23, 2005
By Ben Cunningham The implications of taxpayer money being used to get more taxpayer money are huge. The most important result is that government is becoming an increasingly closed circle where citizens are relegated to observer status. This study by...

Unfunded Mandate?, November 22, 2005
By Ben Cunningham WBIR (which has an RSS feed) in Knoxville has anews story about the cost of the new DUI law which mandates that first timers wear a vest that says "I am a drunk driver" and pick up...

Bredesen's Sweetheart Deal, November 16, 2005
By Matthew White The Tennessean reports that the incentive package offered to Nissan to lure them to Middle Tennessee equates to $155,000 per job created in the area. The paper reported on Thursday:State officials insisted today that they couldn't yet...

Are Tax Referendums a Threat?, November 6, 2005
Knoxville newspaper columnist Frank Cagle, one of the few mainstream journalists who backed the anti-income tax side in the great battle over the proposed state Income in Tennessee a few years ago, has come out with a rather odd column...

Helping Phil Keep His Word, October 1, 2005
Troy Senik, a research fellow at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tennessee Center for Policy Research, analyzes Gov. Bredesen's latest less-than-ironclad statements opposing the creation of a new state income tax, and gives the governor advice on how to ensure Tennessee has...

Supreme Court to Consider Tax Incentives, September 28, 2005
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday announced that it would decide the constitutionality of tax breaks used by cities and states to attract large employers and manufacturers when its new term begins Monday. The Tennessean explains the case - and its...

What He Said, September 27, 2005
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has "ruled out" seeking the creation of a state income tax in a second term, if he's re-elected, according to an AP story. in today's Tennessean. Oddly, the AP story provides a reaction quote only from...

Debate Sought, May 16, 2002
Article 11, Section 9, of the state constitution says this: The General Assembly shall not authorize any municipality to tax incomes, estates, or inheritances, or to impose any other tax not authorized by Sections 28 or 29 of Article 2...

Rethinking TDOT, March 15, 2002
My column in Thursday's Nashville City Paper explains how the state is failing to take advantage of a funding mechanism that could allow Tennessee to accelerate its road-building program. Essentially, Uncle Sam will now let states issue bonds for highway...

GARVEEs a route to sensible TDOT budget, March 13, 2002
(Note: The information below is intended as support material for this column published in the March 14, 2002, issue of Nashville City Paper, and I recommend you read that column first.) A long article on recent developments in federal project...