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S.E. Wood Hall full or half empty? By the time you read this, the governor will
have vetoed the legislature's "no tax increase" budget,
and will have called for a special legislative session to try
again for an income or other form of additional taxation. As you hear all their whining and moaning
about how destitute the state government has become, keep in
mind a few bits of information gleaned by the Tennessee Institute
for Public Policy from the 11-month report of the state's own
Department of Finance and Administration. For the first 11 months of the current fiscal
year, tax receipts are up $116.6 million over last year. This
total of $7.054 billion sets a new all time record of tax collections
for the 11-month period. "Without a doubt, once July's revenue
is collected and the books are closed, Tennessee will have collected
a record level of tax revenue in the just-finished fiscal year,"
states Bill Hobbs of the Tennessee Institute for Public Policy.
Remember all the whining over the loss of
sales taxes due to the depressing Bush economy, and all the revenues
being lost to Internet purchasing? Well, sales taxes are also
coming in at a record level, already exceeding last year's total
collections! Just confirms again that there is no problem with Tennessee tax revenues, or our current methods of collecting them. The problem is, and always has been, with uncontrolled spending. |