Give everyone a raise
WBIR reports that Gov. Bredesen wants to take our revenue surplus and give raises to state employees:
In his budget for fiscal 2006, Bredesen has proposed about $44 million for a one percent pay raise for state employees, and earmarked the same amount for a one time one percent bonus. If state revenue stays strong, the governor would like to double the pay increase.
The governor could give everyone in the state a raise by cutting our ridiculous sales tax of 9.25%. Some quick math based on those numbers:
1%X = $44M
X= 4,400,000,000.00
Ok. Looks like the budget for salaries is (at a SWAG) about $4.4B. Per the Census, the Median salary in TN is about $36K. The article states that state employees earn about 20-25% less than average. So, to be generous since governments tend to be top heavy, we’ll call it $30K. So:
$4.4B / 30,000 = 146,667 state employees.
Seems like a lot to me. Of course, my math was quick and riddled with assumptions.
Anyway, cut the sales tax and we all get raises. Spending this surplus is why Tennessee will (in the future) be crying about fiscal crisis and budget woes. Whoever brings up income tax next time should be sacked.
April 20th, 2005 at 9:19 am
Actually, sales tax is the perfect tax if you want more votes to shrink the government – because every time you buy something, you are reminded of the government bite. Excise taxes are hidden – you don’t know how much of your gasoline or booze purchase went to the government unless you look it up. The income tax bite is listed somewhere in the fine print on your pay stubs, but half the people don’t read that and probably think the IRS sends them money!