Correction: We will not go down. The income tax had it's best shot last Wednesday, the 22nd. If they couldn't pass it then, it's not going to pass. Nevertheless, we can't be any less vigilant, but personally, I'm pretty confident we've beat this for good.
The legislature is now looking at pulling out some of the $2 billion it has in reserve funds in order to balance the budget by June 30th.
They fought for the tax and they lost. Now it's time to balance the budget and clean House.
Tax demonstrators face off at Tennessee Capitol
By JOHN GEROME Associated Press Writer
May 29, 2002
NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Hundreds of tax opponents seeking to sway legislators' budget deliberations protested for the third Wednesday in a row while sharing space outside the state Capitol with a small band of tax proponents (17) and an unrelated rally for Israel.
The anti-tax throng swelled to more than 600 people by afternoon. But a knot of about 15 income tax supporters got first dibs on a prominent spot in front of the Capitol and several of the 200 people at the Israel rally waved Israeli and American flags on the plaza across the street.
The pro-Israel speakers struggled to be heard over a din of honking from tax protesters' car horns, 18-wheel truck horns, hand-held air horns, even a train horn mounted in the back of a pickup.
"I think of them as shofars blowing for Israel, not car horns honking against an income tax," said Dr. Frank Boehm, president of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. A shofar is a ram's horn blown in synagogues on Rosh Hashana and at the end of Yom Kippur.
Protesters cheered when the House adjourned about 4 p.m. without passing a tax measure. The legislators will reconvene June 19; the protesters vowed to return.
"We're going to have to win every time," said Jerry Brewington, a small business owner from Hendersonville. "If they win once, we're probably done for."
The state faces a $480 million deficit in the fiscal year ending June 30. It will take about $800 million in new tax revenue to pass essentially the same budget again next year, and $1.4 billion to fully fund Gov. Don Sundquist's proposed $9.6 billion budget.
Lawmakers have attempted several tax plans over the past four years but none has received majority support. A 4.5 percent flat rate income tax drafted by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh was defeated 49-45 last week, but remains alive.
The tax debates are usually accompanied by protests outside the Capitol.
Steve Gill, a radio talk show host in Nashville who helps organize the demonstrations, said he hopes lawmakers use their break to study income tax alternatives. He cited a combination of sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol, and budget cuts as one possibility.
"They need to stop beating a dead horse," Gill said of the income tax.
Income tax supporters assembled before sunrise to beat the crush of anti-tax protesters and let Naifeh know that "a silent majority" favors his plan. They lined a railing in front of the Capitol and high above the street with yellow and black signs that spelled: "Yes on Naifeh Plan."
"We want basic human rights for all people. That's why we're all here together to tell lawmakers to vote yes," said Shannon Houska of Nashville.
Naifeh has said he would not call for another vote on the tax unless he has the 50 votes needed to pass it. A different revenue proposal to expand the 6 percent sales tax to many exempt items and professional services failed in an afternoon House vote.
Houska said 60 percent of Tennesseans would pay less tax under Naifeh's plan. One of the bill's provisions would remove the sales tax from food, clothing and nonprescription drugs.
As the anti-tax crowd made noise, Houska and other tax supporters stood quietly with signs that read: "No more cuts to education" and "Support Naifeh Plan, Support Tennessee."
Nell Levin, a lobbyist with the Tennessee Network for Community Economic Development, said tax supporters have had a strong presence in the debate with a barrage of e-mails and letters instead of horn-honking.
"We're tired of the opposition being represented as the majority opinion in Tennessee," she said. "Many people support tax reform."
As the crowd grew during the morning, anti-tax demonstrators got into a shoving match with tax supporters over the prime spot in front of the Capitol. State police cleared the balcony before the confrontation escalated.
"We were afraid somebody would get hurt," said Department of Safety spokeswoman Beth Womack. "We decided to move everybody off the balcony before somebody went over the rail. That's the last thing we need."