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At least someone in a position of state leadership is thinking - as well as providing direction and making hard choices.
Gov. Don Sundquist did the right thing when he vetoed the $19.6 billion state budget adopted by the Legislature July 12. The budget is a mishmash of extreme measures intended to slash needed services and use one-time funds simply to avoid tax reform.
"What I've seen makes my stomach hurt and my heart ache because I know that this General Assembly, as evidenced by the budget it chose to pass, doesn't much care about the future of our state - the future of our children," Sundquist said. "If the Legislature had deliberately set out to wreck the state's finances, I doubt it could have done a better job."
The adoption of the budget, which calls for a $110 million cut in spending and uses all of the state's $560 million in tobacco settlement money, has caused an unsurprising number of repercussions. The University of Tennessee trustees, facing a cutback in the funding it receives from the state, approved a 15 percent tuition increase July 18.
The General Assembly also sacrificed the state's high bond rating. Standard & Poor's in New York lowered the bond rating the day after the budget was adopted, making it more expensive for the state to borrow money. The same thing happened last year the day after the state adopted its budget, a reaction to the way the budget is funded.
Other specters include closing state parks, shorter hours at driver's license stations, fewer Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers and fewer trained firefighters. And this is just the beginning of what our state would look like under the budget passed by the Legislature.
It can't be said that the budget was passed in a timely manner, either. After months of little or no action by legislators, they finally adopted this budget in the midst of a demonstrative mob.
The whole situation has resulted in making the state a laughingstock of the nation. The foot-dragging of its lawmakers as well as the rabble-rousers in the crowd the night of July 12 have contributed to this image.
We reiterate: Sundquist did the right thing. There is still time for legislators to do the right thing. We don't get many second changes in life, but this is one of them.
We urge them to come back and face the music - it isn't pretty, but doing what's right is often difficult - and give the state a budget that is a credit to its people.
This may include standing up to those who would rule by intimidation by participating in a mob outside the Capitol. This also may include an income tax. It certainly must include tax reform.
Most important, it would mean that legislators must come to grips with what they stand for. They must return to Nashville, address the problems and find a solution.
That clearly is the responsible thing to do, and the citizens of Tennessee deserve no less.
The benefits of low federal & state taxes are never seen by the public. And never will.
This may include standing up to those who would rule by intimidation by participating in a mob outside the Capitol.
So this clown never learned about 1776? Must be a DemonRAT.
This also may include an income tax. It certainly must include tax reform.
Quit paying for every legislators pet pork projects, and revise and restrain TennCare and you just may find the tax increase is unnecessary.
News-Senseless subscribers: Boycott this piece of trash!
Ping.
A "second chance" to rob yourselves, huh? Some second chance....
The whole situation has resulted in making the state a laughingstock of the nation.
Only because of the way it's being reported in the lamestream press. Example, straight from this article: After months of little or no action by legislators, they finally adopted this budget in the midst of a demonstrative mob... The foot-dragging of its lawmakers as well as the rabble-rousers in the crowd the night of July 12 have contributed to this image.
Make fun of your state legislators and blame the whole mess on mob rule. We know how the 'mob' acted because it was reported in detail /w pix here on FR. But a person who doesn't have the ADVANTAGE of FR (hello JimRob) reading this article would think the 'mob' was unruly, dangerous and threatning and 'forced' the legislature to pass this budget.
This clown's article contributes to the state's bad name. Way to go!
Actually one of out sinators is also giving the state a bad name ... well, not with lieberals, they love him now; Senator Frist has come down on the side of federal funding for an atrocity against human life, as long as those committing the atrocity limit the extent of the atrocity and allow the federal gov't to set guidelines for future atrocities of the same kind. great conservative leadership, that!
We're pretty good on taxes
We can top this. Check out the article in this morning's Johnson City paper, wherein Don Sundquist compares himself to "Paul Revere" and refers to himself as a "lonely patriot". My wife is stil cleaning coffee off the walls...what a howler!
Here's the message for those who would suckle at the teat of state government. You are nothing but a common thief. When you take money from the state government, you are STEALING money from those who actually WORK for a living. I ask college students why they think I, as a taxpayer, should fund THEIR college education. I never get a straight answer. Personally, I'd like to see "state/taxpayer funding" for colleges and universities cut dramatically. Students can pay for it themselves, just like the good old days. Extend low-interest loans to ANYONE who is accepted into an institution of higher learning, BUT hold THEM responsible for paying back said loan. Why the h*ll should taxpayers have to foot the bill for the college education of their neighbor's children? If PRIVATE organizations and foundations wish to extend grants, fine by me. Just keep out of MY pocket. (Paid for MY own student loans, thank you. Every last penny.) People would do well to remember Exodus 20:15..."Thou shalt not steal." When you take government money, you are STEALING from the taxpayers. Don't be a thief. (No flames, please. I know there are exceptions, but we need to SHAME those who are perfectly capable of making it on their own, but choose to let others do the heavy lifting for them.)
There is no 110 dollar spending "cut"; what does this moron think a 5.2% increase in budgetary outlay is?
"Slashes" in services? Nonexistent. To my knowledge no department has been asked to do with any less that they were appropriated last year. Any budgetary short-changing will be done in high-profile services such as education, state troopers, and parks just to make a political point. Damn them all.
A 15% increast in tuition at UT? Still a bargain, compared to any of the surrounding states (since they like to compare us to North Carolina, Virginia, et.al.) I don't owe a college degree to anyone, and especially that 50% or so who squandered my tax dollars for 12 years only to have to spend their first year or so of "higher education" taking remedial classes. When I went to college, there were certain academic proficiencies required to even be admitted.
I'm sick of the lies from the looters so they can stick their grubby hands deeper into my pockets.
Sounds like you'd like the Personal Tax
Here's a "mob rule" BUMP.
Interesting concept...thanks for the link.
But, it's for the children!!! How can you not want a tax when it's for the children?!!! I just want to puke every time I see the liberals chanting that mantra. All the liberals care about is confiscating wealth from those who produce and redistributing it to themselves, in the form of grants, workfare (read: government paychecks), bribes, kickbacks, government bureaucracies, as well as to those they keep in the gutter with their pandering socialist schemes. The children are just a convenient way to pull on people's heartstrings. Pass me another barf bag, please.
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/0,1406,KNS_348_771103,00.html
Sundquist Scolds local officials over tax reform
Legislature takes 'heat' for them, governor says
By Tom Humphrey, News-Sentinel Nashville bureau
NASHVILLE -- City and county officials have done little or nothing to push tax reform, and their own finances are now at more risk than most realize, says Gov. Don Sundquist. "Why should the General Assembly take the heat for raising money for local governments?" Sundquist said, referring to some $650 million in state-collected taxes now sent annually to city and county governments.
The state budget Sundquist vetoed last week includes a provision taking a first small step toward curbing the flow of so-called "state-shared taxes" to local governments.
Through an accounting maneuver, it essentially declares that, starting July 1, 2002, the payments to local governments will be frozen at current levels.
The state would then keep all future growth in revenue from the shared taxes -- a projected $18 million next year.
If his veto is overridden and there is no tax reform generating new state revenue next year, Sundquist said, it would be logical for the state to shut off funding to local governments completely next year to keep state government functioning.
"We could balance the budget fairly easily next year by just keeping the tax money sent to local governments," he said. "I think that's where we're going to look without new revenue."
"They (legislators) could take it (the shared tax revenue) back for the state and let those local communities, where people don't seem to care, have a little less money," the governor said in a meeting with a small group of reporters a few hours after his budget veto.
Local government officials, Sundquist said, "ought to understand that they have more at risk than anyone -- except our children" without an increase in state revenue.
The governor said he was frustrated with local officials who continually seek state funds but do nothing to help convince legislators in their area that tax reform is needed.
"They're the ones that are going to lose out, and I don't hear from them up here (at the Capitol). The General Assembly doesn't hear from them," he said. "The only time I hear from them, or the legislators hear from them, is when they want something."
"Knoxville is the worst," he said in the course of reviewing regional legislative delegations' support of tax reform. Sundquist said that, of the seven House members and three senators representing Knox County, only Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, has been supportive of his efforts.
Asked if he was saying Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe has been remiss in not supporting tax reform, Sundquist replied, "Absolutely!"
Ashe sent the Knox delegation a letter earlier this year saying his chief concern for the legislative session was keeping up the flow of state-shared taxes to the city.
The mayor was on vacation and unavailable for comment, but his spokesman, Craig Griffith, acknowledged that Ashe "stayed out of the entire budget battle."
"The state doesn't get involved in developing the city budget, and he doesn't get involved in developing the state budget except to urge the budget continue the tradition of sending a share of proceeds from some taxes to local governments.
"He feels the state budget crisis shouldn't be balanced on the local property tax," said Griffith, citing estimates that elimination of state-shared tax revenue would require a $1 increase in property taxes to make up for lost funds.
Sundquist said that many local governments are raising property taxes with few, if any, complaints from their citizens -- a stark contrast to efforts at raising state taxes.
He noted that Nashville, "a wasteland" insofar as legislator support for tax reform goes, recently had the biggest property tax increase in its history without provoking any of the horn-honking protests that have occurred at the state capitol when a state income tax was discussed.
Rae Young Bond, executive director of the Tennessee Municipal League, said some cities have had "a tough go" in efforts at raising local taxes. Local government options for raising revenue are restricted by laws passed by the Legislature, she noted.
Bond said TML, which lobbies on behalf of city governments across the state, "has worked with the Legislature in evaluating every tax plan" considered in recent months. She said there were 22 such plans by her count.
"We support approaches that are broad-based and provide long-term support," she said, though acknowledging the group has not endorsed any specific tax proposal and local officials involved in TML have differing views on any proposal involving an income tax.
"We have been trying to educate local governments on the (state) revenue crisis," Bond said. "I think there a strong and growing awareness that we need to fundamentally reform our taxes in Tennessee."
Bob Wormsley, executive director of the Tennessee County Services Association, has advocated an income tax as part of tax reform in a newspaper published by the association, which lobbies on behalf of county governments statewide.
Tom Humphrey may be reached at 615-242-7782 or humphrey@edge.net
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/01/04/07044097.shtml?Element_ID=7044097
Governor offers to soften stance on tax question
By BONNA de la CRUZ Staff Writer
A conciliatory Gov. Don Sundquist says he is willing to pare down his ambitious education initiative and open discussions on whether fewer Tennesseans should be covered by TennCare as a new round of debate on taxes begins.
But, in a less conciliatory tone, Sundquist said that if lawmakers do not solve the budget impasse this year, some of the pressure to raise taxes will shift to city and county governments. He said the state might be forced to withhold some of the almost $700 million shared annually with local governments, forcing them to levy higher property taxes to cover the loss.
The comments came after Sundquist on Thursday vetoed the no-new-revenue budget approved by the state legislature July 12 amid a roar of ''no new tax'' protests in and around the Capitol.
Sundquist called the budget ''fiscally irresponsible'' because it raises no new revenue and spends four years' worth of tobacco settlement funds on one year's budget shortfall. It was passed after negotiations crumbled over a 3.5% flat-rate income tax coupled with a public referendum. The major sticking point reportedly was whether a referendum would be binding and held before the tax took effect, or whether it would be advisory and held after the tax was put in place.
The veto leaves the legislature with two options when it reconvenes Aug. 7:
• Overriding the governor's veto and going home. That would take a simple majority in the 99-member House and 33-member Senate. Sundquist has hinted strongly that if this occurs, he would call lawmakers back into special session this fall.
• Sustaining the veto, which would leave in force a more austere budget that, among other things, takes back a 2.5% pay raise for state employees, K-12 teachers statewide, and university faculty and staff.
The governor's comments seemed to be aimed at gaining votes to sustain his veto and, if successful there, getting votes for some new revenue plan. Opponents of any new taxes argue that enough money can be saved by making changes in TennCare to avoid enacting new taxes.
The budget received 20 votes in the Senate — three more than the 17 it needed — and the Senate sponsor says an override is not certain there. The margin was much wider in the House, where the budget passed 77-21. It needed only 50 votes, and the same number will be required to override.
Sundquist said his focus will be meeting one-on-one and in small groups with members of the Senate, where consensus on a tax plan and budget has been most elusive.
Sen. Bill Clabough, R-Maryville, caucus chairman of Senate Republicans, said he is open to new ideas from Sundquist.
Others in his party who are opposed to new taxes, including Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, said the time has come to shut down discussions and accept the fact that Tennesseans don't want higher taxes.
Sundquist said that after three years of debate on spending and taxation, he believes most Tennesseans have come around to thinking the state needs more revenue, although he will continue to listen to ideas about how to trim the budget.
''Frankly, I'm disappointed we didn't have more people down here (demonstrating at the Capitol) who are getting hurt — mayors, county executives, business leaders, teachers, bankers, state employees,'' Sundquist said.
''We did not have people down here speaking up, urging (lawmakers) to do something, to match the occasions when the horn-honkers were down here,'' he said, referring to anti-tax demonstrators who honked their car horns in protest.
In vetoing the $19.6 billion budget, the state reverts to a temporary budget approved by lawmakers June 29 in order to avert a shutdown of state government. It spends less of the available tobacco settlement money than the $560 million lawmakers put in the budget Sundquist vetoed.
If lawmakers sustain his veto and leave the temporary budget in place, Sundquist said, he would support efforts to remove a provision in the temporary budget that withholds Basic Education Program funding for local school districts and another that discourages state colleges and universities from raising tuition.
The temporary budget threatened to withhold appropriations from institutions that raised tuition. The University of Tennessee and the state Board of Regents approved 15% tuition increases before Sundquist's veto.
In an interview Thursday, Sundquist outlined a strategy he hopes will deliver another two to four votes in the Senate in support of changing the state's tax system so it relies less on the sales tax. Sales taxes account for 60% of the state's $7.5 billion general fund.
Focus has been on a state income tax, which Sundquist prefers because it grows with the economy, although he said he is open to anything other than an increase in the sales tax.
He said he would consider higher license plate fees as a small part of the mix of a new tax structure. On the issue of an income tax, Sundquist appears to lean more toward a flat tax, even if that means it's more of a short-term solution, about 10 years, compared to the longevity of a graduated income tax.
He still has his heart set on taking the sales tax off food, even if he must lower expectations to remove only the 6% state portion and not the 1.5% to 2.75% local portion, he said.
The strategy includes:
• Reducing the amount for new programs the governor requested from about $785 million to a lower figure, between $650 million and $700 million. That would be accomplished in part by eliminating some of the $96 million in his education initiative. He would retain two components: a reading initiative so that every third-grader knows how to read and a pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds. He would give up the part aimed at helping at-risk seventh- and eighth-graders prepare to pass a high school exit exam.
Sundquist talked about revisiting proposals to consolidate state departments as a cost-saving measure but did not elaborate.
• Opening discussions on TennCare, the state's health insurance program for 1.3 million Tennesseans, including those eligible for Medicaid and those unable to get insurance otherwise. TennCare is still considered a money pit by some lawmakers, but Sundquist said improvements have been made in the past year and will continue based on recommendations of a blue-ribbon commission.
''If they believe we need fewer people on TennCare, I'm ready to talk about that,'' the governor said.
Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, who opposes higher taxes, entered discussions earlier this month with income tax proponents to forge a compromise based in part on TennCare reforms. Among them, Fowler said, is removing non-Medicaid Tennesseans from TennCare and offering them vouchers to buy private health insurance.
• Put pressure on local officials. Sundquist said the state's largest cities reap the most benefit from a healthy state budget. However, lawmakers in all those cities, except for Memphis, are the least supportive of efforts to raise taxes.
He called Knoxville, which would see dramatic funding increases for the University of Tennessee, ''the worst,'' and labeled Nashville a ''wasteland'' when it comes to legislators who support new taxes.
Knoxville's two Republican senators, Ben Atchley and Tim Burchett, are members of the Senate's influential Finance Committee, and both have been locked down against an income tax, despite support for tax reform within the UT community.
Davidson County's Sen. Joe Haynes, caucus chairman of Senate Democrats, has led the charge for a sales tax increase as an alternative to an income tax. The county's two other senators, Democrats Douglas Henry and Thelma Harper, also oppose an income tax.
Henry said he is philosophically opposed to taxing people's productivity, while Harper, who has supported an income tax in past administrations, said she's ''never met a tax I've liked'' and that her constituents oppose an income tax.
Sundquist acknowledged that Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell won easy approval of an 88-cent property tax increase this year, a sharp contrast to the anti-tax sentiment swirling around the General Assembly.
''All these local communities where nobody seems to care when they raise taxes, let them raise them a little bit more,'' he said.
There is a move in the legislature to withhold state-shared taxes, starting with nearly $19 million — the amount from growth — next year. The state distributed nearly $700 million in state-collected taxes to local governments last year.
Local governments would have nowhere to go but a property tax increase to make up the loss.
''I don't want to do this, but we could balance our budget fairly easily if we took the tax money we raise in the state and keep it in the state,'' Sundquist said.
''I'm not threatening them, but I'm telling you, if this doesn't get solved ... that's where (lawmakers) are going to look. That's where I'm going to look.'' Sundquist said it's not right for the General Assembly to take the heat for raising taxes and continue disbursing funds to cities and counties in the form of shared taxes and supplements to local firefighter and police salaries.
• Discuss a referendum on an income tax, which some tax opponents like. Sundquist said he supports coupling a public vote on an income tax after one has been in place for a couple of years. He does not support a vote before one is enacted.
• Find a way to set at ease those who fear political retribution for supporting new taxes and those who feel bound by anti-income-tax pledges signed during re-election campaigns. ''If there is anything I can do from either caucus (Republican or Democrat) to take the blame, I'll be happy to do that,'' Sundquist said.
http://www.timesnews.net/index.cgi?BISKIT=9410616974895&CONTEXT=story&id=48717&category=63&fulltext=1
Lawmakers set to weigh future of Tennessee when they reconvene to address Sundquist's budget veto
By TIM WHALEY
Analysis
With barely enough time to squeeze in a vacation, Tennessee's part-time legislature that has now turned in seven months of work will return in nine days to ponder the governor's veto.
Opinions on the matter are deeply entrenched.
Conservative groups, such as the Tennessee Institute for Public Policy, believe the state should live within its means.
Staunch conservatives, such as TIPP, regularly issue statements with headlines declaring that "Tennessee's Surpluses Add Up," "Tennessee's Spending Zooms," and "It really is the spending, stupid."
Others, such as Lloyd Daugherty, of the Tennessee Conservative Union, insist that "If we really work hard, maybe we can be 50th in taxes, instead of just 48th."
A fundamental question would seem to be, what can Tennesseans afford. In 2000, the state was 33rd in terms of per capita income, yet 48th in the level of taxation.
The per capita state tax burden in 2000 was $1,360 - nearly 30 percent below the national average. Even if Gov. Don Sundquist's full $779 million increase was funded, it would add $137.14 to that burden.
Indeed, revenues have increased. But the state legislature has overwhelmingly voted the past three years in favor of budgets that increased spending even more - 9.7 percent in 2001 and 9.2 percent in the governor's proposed 2002 budget.
What's the money for? District attorney generals, corrections, the Department of Health, TennCare, K-12 and higher education. Some of the increases were related to lawsuits or court actions - particularly in mental retardation, children's services and TennCare.
Increases on the order of $100 million for higher education and K-12 have been regular targets each year.
During a regional tour this week, Sundquist said he believes the General Assembly does see the need - with overwhelming majorities, including many fiscal conservatives, voting for his reading initiative.
The only problem is, the legislature hasn't been willing to fund any budget honestly by raising taxes.
The year before last, the General Assembly skirted public furor by quietly taxing limited liability businesses and cable television. Legislators also milked the Department of Transportation for about $11 million and got another $19 million or so from a reserve intended for low-income housing and home ownership assistance.
Last year, unwilling to do the annual raid-the-henhouse routine, the General Assembly simply bumped revenue projections far above expected tax collections, and went home.
This year, legislators voted to spend four years worth of national tobacco settlement income - $560 million - including a payment that won't come until late in the fiscal year.
After a few days traveling the state again assessing needs, Sundquist vetoed that budget.
While the think tanks talk about rising state revenue and surpluses, citing the state's ability to squeeze out $100 million plus the past few years, others cite the results of those cutbacks.
The Tennessee State Employees Association says 42 percent of all state employees have left the state's service in just three years.
East Tennessee State University has lost better than a third of its department heads in just two years. Money does matter for those who serve the public, because they also have to feed a family.
Then there is the state's dismal level of funding for K-12 and higher education. The state spends about the same percentage of its general fund budget on education as the other 50 states, according to the Fiscal Survey of States by the National Governor's Association and the National Organization of State Budget Officers.
The problem is, however, that percentage of state revenues is much less than other states of comparable size.
Indiana, with a population of 6 million compared to Tennessee's 5.68 million, had state tax revenues of $9.47 billion in 2001. Tennessee's tax base was $6.95 billion.
Missouri, with 5.59 million people, had state tax revenues of $7.73 billion.
Maryland, with 5.29 million people, had state tax revenues of $9.65 billion.
Of those four states of comparable size, Tennessee's per capita income was the lowest, ranging from $800 to $7,633 less than the other three states.
Tennessee's commitment to teach children to read is so poor that the federal government, long known as the go-to guys for money, don't even trust that state enough to give us a grant. A Reading Excellence Act grant has been denied not once, but twice.
How about TennCare? This is the managed Medicaid program the state implemented to extend health insurance not only to the poor, but to working Tennesseans who have no access to insurance.
While increases have been high the past three years, ranging from $150 million to $200 million, that was partly due to the state's effort to properly fund the program for the first time and partly due to a federal lawsuit.
But, contrary to popular belief, other Southeastern states have seen similar, or even larger, increases in their Medicaid programs, and, as the conservative think tanks are fond of noting, Tennessee serves far more people.
In fiscal 2000, Georgia had the highest Medicaid increase of 21.4 percent. Tennessee was next, at 14.1 percent, with four other Southern states posting increases of 10.2 to 11.9 percent, according to the Fiscal Survey of States.
In fiscal 2001, North Carolina posted the highest Medicaid cost increase, 16.5 percent, compared to Tennessee's 16.2 percent. Florida had a 15.4 percent increase, and three other Southeastern states posted increases of 9.3 to 12.1 percent.
In fiscal 2002, Tennessee's Medicaid increase is mid-pack among the Southeastern states at 7 percent. The highest increase belongs to North Carolina, at 15 percent.
How successful has the state's money-saving efforts been?
A 2000 report by the Comptroller's Office of Research on mergers and consolidation of prisons says the state did cut costs over three years by about $3.65 per inmate per day.
The result: prisoners doing maintenance work on the facilities; unsupervised kitchen duties by inmates increased; hand tool control compromised at some facilities; and a drastic decline in basic and vocational education opportunities that might actually keep them from winding up back in jail again.
And Davidson County residents who have turned out so strongly to blow their car horns should note - because of Community Service Center closings in Chattanooga and Knoxville, many released inmates "stay in Nashville after release because it is easier for staff to find housing, employment and transition services" for the inmates there.
The decision that lawmakers face on Aug. 7 isn't really about a veto and tobacco dollars. It's whether the public feels the state must "try harder and be 50th in taxes" or raise taxes and address the state's needs
Is the Johnson City paper online and is the this piece of barf article in it????
SHELBY COUNTY TAX ALERT:
County budget, tax rate up next
By Jimmie Covington covington@gomemphis.com
Shelby County Commissioners are scheduled to debate a pair of major financial issues Monday - the budget and tax rate - but may not be prepared to take final action on either.
Commissioner Tommy Hart said he has not heard of any major ``opposition or outcry'' against a budget plan for general county government discussed July 18.
But Hart said ``a large gulf'' exists among commissioners on the amount of a property tax increase to fund the county schools budget request.
The county schools budget has a $29 million gap, and a tax rate increase of about 85 cents would be needed to fully fund it.
The support of nine commissioners - a two-thirds majority on the 13-member commission - is needed to approve any tax increase of more than 33 cents, 10 percent of the adjusted $3.36 tax rate.
Since the fiscal year started July 1, the county has been operating on a continuation budget at last year's spending levels.
Several commissioners on July 18 discussed a 50-cent increase but since then, some discussion has been in the "60-cent range," Hart said. However, he said, "I don't see any support for nine votes that it will take to get above 33 cents at this point."
Under commission procedures, the approval of any motion on Monday to increase the $3.36 rate for each $100 of assessed property value would delay final action on the tax rate until the next commission meeting.
Hart said he was ``not optimistic'' that commissioners will make any decision Monday on what the tax rate will be. He has not said how he will vote on the rate. Last year's rate was $3.54, but under state law the base rate before any increase has been reduced to $3.36 as a result of increased property values under this year's reappraisal program.
Legally, commissioners could move ahead Monday and approve the general county budget and act later on the tax rate.
Commissioners are also scheduled to consider appointments to the public building authority, which will oversee construction of the NBA arena.
Gail's note.
Sherry Holden is the editor and a party big wig..if you are tired of property taxes going up to fund RICH BOYS TOYS and all the waste, fraud and corruption please let her know she has an email addy on their Shelby CO GOP web site. Click Here
My email to ms holden
Today's Comic Appeal states that the County Commission is looking at another MAJOR property tax hike on TOP of the 30-50% reappraisal hike.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. STOP Taxing us to death! The government now confiscates 60% of a citizens income.
Both parties found $12M for that RICH BOYS TOY! Now find it for the schools and the jail WITHOUT a property tax hike.
There is waste, fraud and corruption that the Commission just shrugs their shoulders over. Clean it up and go after the parties involved and recoup our tax dollars.
We need a TEA PARTY right here in Shelby County!
We are registered Republicans and will vote AGAINST the next person to raise our taxes even ONE RED CENT.
If you chose pro-tax hikers to run, we will chose to vote for a libertarian or MONGO instead.
OUTRAGED taxpayers
Dennis and Gail Keasling
bttt
My prayers are with you people in Tennessee.
The big-government socialists are relentless. Please have the strength to redouble your efforts to fight the pigs who would confiscate more and more from you. Do not let them win.
DESPITE spending $1 BILLION on EDUCATION IMPROVEMENTS TN schools makes FAILING GRADES. Click Here
I cancelled my subscription to my local "Memphis Commercial Appeal" years ago. Put a couple of bucks with that money and subscribed to the Wall Street Journal. Get my news there and here--FR, Newsmax, WND. Best move I ever made.
I always call it the Memphis Communist Appeal.
"What I've seen makes my stomach hurt and my heart ache because I know that this General Assembly, as evidenced by the
budget it chose to pass, doesn't much care about the future of our state - the future of our children," Sundquist said. "If the
Legislature had deliberately set out to wreck the state's finances, I doubt it could have done a better job."
Well, now we know what the extinguished Vice President Mr. Gore is doing when not lecturing impressionable students at Columbia - he's moonlighting as Mr. Sundquist's chief speechwriter!
I always call it the Memphis Communist Appeal.
Yeah, it ranks right up there with the Nashville Tennessean, AKA the Morning Worker.
I ask college students why they think I, as a taxpayer, should fund THEIR college education. I never get a straight answer. Personally, I'd like to see "state/taxpayer funding" for colleges and universities cut dramatically. Students can pay for it themselves, just like the good old days. Extend low-interest loans to ANYONE who is accepted into an institution of higher learning, BUT hold THEM responsible for paying back said loan. Why the h*ll should taxpayers have to foot the bill for the college education of their neighbor's children? If PRIVATE organizations and foundations wish to extend grants, fine by me. Just keep out of MY pocket. (Paid for MY own student loans, thank you. Every last penny.) People would do well to remember Exodus 20:15..."Thou shalt not steal." When you take government money, you are STEALING from the taxpayers
AMEN, Brother. IMHO, we would be much better off as a nation without such things as land grant state universitiies, as well as the free public education system that Karl Marx promoted. Collectivist brainwashing seems to be their main forte anymore.
Media, Government (and all who work in it), and Special Interests (NEA, Unions, Gays, Feminists, Abortionists, and all who rely upon government for their existence.)
I call it "The Government Class." Ronaldus Maximus had a name for it, but it escapes me now.
That's one side: the Government Class.
The other is US. It is us against them. Now THEY try to make it rich versus poor, but that's not it at all, of course, though the politicians would like to continue to exploit class-envy and class-warfare as they have so successfully in the past.
It is just like communist societies: the Government class lives off of everybody else. This is how leftists designed it and want it. The Government class rules and decides what is written in history books, what religions are approved and disapproved, what is taught in schools and universities, what is communicated via the media. Media has a vested interest in the success of the Government Class---now more than ever, since without Government intervention the free-flow of news over the Net is going to wash away the Dan Rather's and CNN's of the world.
More properly, these interests of media, government and special intersts are known as, simply, THE STATE.
The lines will continue to be blurred and will disappear between NOW and government, between Gays (like NAMBLA) and government, between media and government....etc.
It wasn't too many years ago that Tennesseans, led by then-Governor-elect Lamar Alexander, had to stage a COUP and literally stage an armed takeover of state government hours before the scheduled tranistion of power. This was done to prevent the then-governor Ray Blanton (DEM) from emptying the prisons as he was selling pardons to murderers, etc.
The sad chapter in this story that we are on NOW is that the governor pulling this sh*t NOW is a (nominal, RINO) Republican, aided and abetted by the loyal Democrat demagogues who have run these Southern legislatures since the end of carpetbagging and reconstruction. They talk like good ol boys, but they are brothers-in-arms with the Barney Frank's, the gays, the abortionists, the envirowackos, the teachers unions, etc.
The state budget Sundquist vetoed last week includes a provision taking a first small step toward curbing the flow of so-called "state-shared taxes" to local governments.
The state would then keep all future growth in revenue from the shared taxes -- a projected $18 million next year.
If his veto is overridden and there is no tax reform generating new state revenue next year, Sundquist said, it would be logical for the state to shut off funding to local governments completely next year to keep state government functioning.
"We could balance the budget fairly easily next year by just keeping the tax money sent to local governments," he said. "I think that's where we're going to look without new revenue."
"They (legislators) could take it (the shared tax revenue) back for the state and let those local communities, where people don't seem to care, have a little less money," the governor said in a meeting with a small group of reporters a few hours after his budget veto.
----- This maniac needs to be recalled before he does irreparable damage to the state. Where's that petition?
We can only do so much, but little things like that count.
The Comic Appeal or Commie Appeal are apt names. I'm now sure which to call it.
Can anyone tell me just WHERE the State as lost 42% of it's work force?????If they had lost that many, then there would be adds in papers, on TV and radio for workers to take up those positions. After all we still need prison guards and janitors for the gov't buildings. Not one sec. of one sen or rep has quit, except to retire and be replaced by another one. Not one of those USELESS commission people has resigned. Gee all I see is MORE folks getting on the payroll as they expand government every second of every day.
Today's print edition of the Comic Appeal carries a opinion piece by Commissioner Buck Welford B-2 of the Metro section.
It is on the funding mess for schools in Memphis/Shelby CO. Some interesting tidbits in it. 1) If they gave the schools what they want it would require a 20% property tax hike. 2) There was a committee which included represenatives of city & county gov'et, both school systems and the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce, explored alternatives to higher property taxes. These included an increase in local sales tax, hike in the "much malign" wheel tax., a tax on real estate transfers and a "impact fee (tax) on developers. the committed reached no consensus. 3) We often are told this community "must invest in education." The fact is that both local school systems have received substantial funding increases over the past SIX years from state and local governmentss.
During that period, the County commission has increased funding for schools by an average of 12% a eyar. Capital expenditures for county schools rose an incredible 668%, from $6.5Million in 1994 to $50Million in 2000. THe same county system has about the same number of students it had six years ago- but is collecting nearly $1,000 more per pupil.
I'll BUMP that.
And raise you a BUMP!
DT
Bump again with comment:'
This threat to the local gov is again public postering to scare people. What Govenor Sundquist is not mentioning is that the proposed income tax plan was going to "reduce" the state sales tax by REMOVING THE LOCAL OPTION. In other words, the state was going to continue to take every dime of state sales tax and the new income tax and leave the local governments holding the bill
In essence, "If you don't let us take away your sales tax money, we are going to take away your revenue sharing money!"
This also exposes the lie that "most people will pay less taxes under the income tax." They will pay less taxes for about 2 weeks until all the local municipalities have to raise property, wheel, business, and other taxes to make up from having all the state sales tax taken away.
It can't be said that the budget was passed in a timely manner, either. After months of little or no action by legislators, they finally adopted this budget in the midst of a demonstrative mob. The whole situation has resulted in making the state a laughingstock of the nation. The foot-dragging of its lawmakers as well as the rabble-rousers in the crowd the night of July 12 have contributed to this image.
DOWN WITH TAX REFORM!!!!!
It can't be said that the budget was passed in a timely manner, either. After months of little or no action by legislators, they finally adopted this budget in the midst of a demonstrative mob.
I was there. It wasn't a mob, and the parents with their 3-6 year olds in tow know it. It was a passionate rally against Sen. Bob Rochelle's attempt to usurp the state Constitution.
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I tend to not for sources of revenue (new taxes)...but rather, how to do the essential government functions at the same or less revenues.
This also may include an income tax. It certainly must include tax reform.
Watch out Vols! Your leglislators are about to hand you an Income Tax in the name of "Tax Reform." You don't need tax reform, and you don't need an income tax! With a $19 billion budget, what Tennessee needs is SPENDING REFORM!
I agree on the spending. The post about bridge tolls was sort of a joke to poke fun at desperate politicians seeking any new way to tax. Check out the following web site for some info and questions along the spending lines.
Hey Gail:
You can find this newspaper online at www.johnsoncitypress.com --- strangely enough, the JCP is perhaps the "best" newspaper in Northeast Tennessee.
Bob the Reformer
Tennessee Anti-State Income Tax web site
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