Is it "Revenue Enhancement Time" in TN?
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
January 13, 2010
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - While there will be minor technical corrections bringing some new tax revenue to Tennessee government, Governor Phil Bredesen continues to make it clear he has no interest in enacting a state income tax in his final year in office. The Governor has been cutting state-funded services instead, though he notes that state revenues have declined at rates similar to those seen in the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Gov. Bredesen's stand has drawn criticism from Brian Paddock, who is a board member of the group Tennesseans for Fair Taxation.
"I think the Governor is taking the position that there aren't any political choices, but that's, quite frankly, a failure of leadership."
Paddock says the argument that supporting an income tax in Tennessee is "political suicide" doesn't work. He points out that public opinion polls indicate that well over half of those questioned are in favor of a state income tax.
"They ask the question, 'If we cut the food tax out and we reduce the general sales tax and we replace that with an income tax that was proportional to ability to pay, would you support it?' And about 60 percent of the people in Tennessee are smarter than their elected officials."
Paddock says the Governor missed the point in his response in a recent interview question about how asking for new taxes would make his job easier. That point is, according to Paddock, that by eliminating taxes on food, reducing the sales tax and adding a graduated income tax on high earners, many of the jobs and services now on the chopping block could be saved.