Tennessee Taxes
Smijer has info on the the Tennesseans for Fair Taxation proposal. The state is in trouble but I am inclined to think it’s the spending not revenue side, with TennCare being the perfect example that spending is the trouble. Also, without limiting or eliminating sales tax, the proposed income tax could result in excessive taxation over time.
December 15th, 2004 at 11:21 am
I’m afraid that TennCare is being used as a sort of spending bogeyman. In any case, the big reason that Tennessee is in trouble is that the tax collection structure is upside down. Even if we want to continue to be near last in the nation in spending in almost every other category, it’s more efficient to collect that revenue by a non-regressive non-consumption-based tax system that doesn’t drive people out of state to shop.
I think we would also find that we would have fewer people on the Medicare and TennCare rolls if we had more than 17% of the population with a college degree… but that’s almost a separate issue.
Here’s what TFT says about Tenncare, by the way…
December 15th, 2004 at 11:35 am
I’m afraid that TennCare is being used as a sort of spending bogeyman
And rightfully so. It is a beast. Government shortfalls are a spending problem. There is no way you can convince me otherwise. Just look at the crap they spend money on.