|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Review Just say I dont to Bride Wars
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
Meltdown 101 The importance of same-store sales
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
Broadcasts to mobile devices to start in 22 cities
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
New TV trends Internet movies, 3-D, power saving
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
UN halts Gaza aid, truce resolution deal approved
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
UN Security Council calls for Gaza cease-fire
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
UN Security Council calls for immediate Gaza truce
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
UN calls for immediate cease-fire in Gaza
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
Pope Benedict jokes about hoarse voice
Southern Ledger - January 9, 2009
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
THE TENNESSEE INCOME TAX IS DEAD, RIGHT?
November 8, 2004 -
November 15, 2004
A Tennessee income tax was not on the ballot this election year, but the issue was clearly not far from voters’ minds. Despite election year pronouncements that the issue is “dead” the contentious debate over a state income tax is still far from over. In fact, when the Tennessee Tax Study Commission issues an expected recommendation for an income tax in December, the issue will re-emerge just in time for a new legislative session. With Governor Phil Bredesen’s much touted TennCare reforms hitting the skids, it will not be long until the “usual suspects” claim that an income tax is the only way out of our “fiscal crisis.”
During the final weeks of the election a number of leading Democrats, including the Governor, declared the income tax a “dead issue.” It was not the first time it has been declared “dead.” In the past many of the same people have pronounced the income tax “dead”…just before mounting a new offensive to pass it.
There are numerous instances where the income tax has been declared “dead” and then revived again just weeks later. The Chattanooga Times Free Press on Sunday, October 12, 1999 quotes legislative leaders saying then Governor Don Sundquist’s state income tax proposal was “dead on arrival.” It was not. The Tennessee County News noted in its March-April, 2000 edition that Speaker Naifeh said “an income tax is dead and lacks the votes needed for passage.” He was right, but it did not stop him from trying. On November 11, 2001 the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that an income tax had been declared dead in the State Senate. That did not stop those in the Senate, led by former Senator and now Tax Study Commission leader Bob Rochelle, from continuing to use any and all means to get it passed throughout the year that followed.
There is a distinct difference between “dead” and “playing possum.” The same people who say today that the income tax is “dead” are the same ones who have so often brought it back to life. The Tennessean headline dated November 19, 1999 says it all: “Income tax dead for now.” Death is a bit more permanent than that. How many obituaries have you ever read that described the deceased as passing away…“for now?”
Although the income tax itself was not on the ballot this year, Tennessee voters made it clear they are fed up with high taxes. Wheel tax referendums across the state gave voters a chance to speak directly on the issue of higher taxes. In virtually every instance we said “NO” in resounding terms. One exception was in Knoxville where government officials passed contingent tax increases that would automatically go into effect if voters rejected the wheel tax increase. Voters simply picked the lower tax option.
The best guide to voter sentiment on the income tax came from Memphis, where a payroll/income tax was on the ballot. The intent was to tax people who live outside of the city limits, and avoid city property tax, but who travel into the city to work. By a massive margin of 73% to 26% Memphis voters said “NO” to the proposed tax. If the pro-tax crowd can’t pass a carefully targeted income tax in their best case scenario of “us against them, tax the rich, class warfare,” how do they expect the rest of Tennessee to embrace it?
In January, Republican legislators will propose a constitutional amendment to definitively, specifically and absolutely ban a tax on earned income in Tennessee. The debate will end. The issue will be settled. The income tax will actually BE dead if that amendment succeeds. It is time for those who have so long proclaimed the income tax to be “dead” to step up and drive a stake through its heart. It is time for them to put action behind their words. If they do not it will be perfectly clear that the income tax is merely hibernating rather than dead! Tennessee voters can then act accordingly.
### |
 |
 |
WINNERS AND LOSERS FROM ELECTION DAY. -
November 1, 2004 -
November 7, 2004
The bitterly contested election of 2004 is finally over, but the fallout from the election will continue for a long time to come. There were plenty of winners, and losers, on election day…and many of them were not even on the ballot!
LOSERS
Governor Phil Bredesen. Governor Bredesen launched a vicious assault on several Republican candidates who ended up victorious, most notably Sen.-elect Diane Black, Sen.-elect Jim Tracy, Rep.-elect Curtis Johnson, and Rep. Judd Matheny, among... |
 |
|
DRAFT DECEPTION BY THE DEMOCRATS -
October 5, 2004 -
October 12, 2004
During the past several months the Democrat party underground has been spreading a bogus rumor claiming the Bush Administration is planning to revive a mandatory military draft immediately after the November election. CBS, in keeping with its peculiar standards of fair journalism (which seems founded upon “what ridiculous story can we air this week to help the Kerry campaign”), aired an item last week which was intended to give the rumor credence. As planned, the Kerry campaign pointed to the “n... |
|
|
IS TENNESSEE "BUSINESS FRIENDLY?" -
August 16, 2004 -
August 22, 2004
Competition among states for business growth and relocation has never been more intense. Much of the attention on economic development at the state and local level focuses on companies that relocate - and the jobs they bring with them. But the real engine of economic growth is the expansion of existing companies, big and small, that already do business here.
A large company choosing to move from California to Tennessee may get the headlines, but the hundreds of small businesses across... |
|
|
16 WORDS -
August 9, 2004 -
August 15, 2004
They were just sixteen words. They were spoken by the President in the 2003 State of the Union Address. "The British government," he said, "has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
In making his case for pre-emptive war against Iraq, the statement by President Bush was only a small portion of the rationale underlying the decision. The information indicated that Saddam Hussein was proceeding with efforts to develop nuclear weapons... |
|
|
FACTS AND FIGURES WILL UNDERCUT FUTURE INCOME TAX PUSH -
August 2, 2004 -
August 8, 2004
During the income tax wars in recent years the pro-tax crowd regularly pointed to Tennessee's revenue figures as evidence of the need for an income tax. Yet the same media outlets that so breathlessly reported the revenue "facts" to justify an income tax have suddenly gone silent as new numbers are released month after month that prove their arguments to have been nothing but hot air. The latest tax collection figures were released late last week and revealed that collections for May, 2004 were... |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Keep up with Steve, join our G-Mail List to receive Gill Show updates and Steve's weekly column... |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
