Reminds me of picture of the guy in front of the tank in Tienanmen (sp) Square. Kind of amazing that Pravda-on-the-Cumberland (the Tennessean) would print it, but they just don't get it.
Posted on 05/23/2002 9:20:18 AM PDT by GailA
Edited on 05/07/2004 9:20:01 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh said his income tax is down but not out, and it could be back for another vote in the House as early as next Wednesday.
The income tax plan, which also included a rollback in some sales taxes and higher taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, failed in the House yesterday during a nail-biting vote count that lasted nearly two hours. It ended with 45 votes for, 49 votes against and four present but not voting. That was five votes short of the 50 needed to pass.
(Excerpt) Read more at tennessean.com ...
Here is a roll call of the Tennessee House of Representatives' 45-49-4 vote on Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's proposed 4.5% flat-rate income tax, sending it to committee. Voting yes were eight Republicans and 37 Democrats. Voting no were 34 Republicans and 15 Democrats.
Republicans voting yes
Ralph Cole, Elizabethton; Ronnie Davis, Newport; Stancil Ford, Talbott; Steve McDaniel, Parkers Crossroads; Bob Patton, Johnson City; Raymond Walker, Fairfield Glade; Keith Westmoreland, Kingsport; and Zane Whitson, Unicoi.
Democrats voting yes
Joe Armstrong, Knoxville; Stratton Bone, Lebanon; Kathryn Bowers, Memphis; Rob Briley, Nashville; Henri Brooks, Memphis; Tommie Brown, Chattanooga; Gene Caldwell, Clinton; Carol Chumney, Memphis; Ronnie Cole, Dyersburg; Barbara Cooper, Memphis; Charles Curtiss, Sparta; John DeBerry, Memphis; Lois DeBerry, Memphis;
Craig Fitzhugh, Ripley; Joe Fowlkes, Cornersville; Ken Givens, Rogersville; Tommy Head, Clarksville; Ulysses Jones, Memphis; Mike Kernell, Memphis; Matt Kisber, Jackson; Edith Langster, Nashville; Butch Lewis, Manchester; Mark Maddox, Dresden; Kim McMillan, Clarksville; Larry Miller, Memphis; and Paul Phelan, Trenton;
Shelby Rhinehart, Spencer; Don Ridgeway, Paris; Randy Rinks, Savannah; Bobby Sands, Columbia; Johnny Shaw, Bolivar; Harry Tindell, Knoxville; Joe Towns, Memphis; Brenda Turner, Chattanooga; Larry Turner, Memphis; John White, Lawrenceburg; and Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, Covington.
Republicans voting no
William Baird, Jacksboro; Mae Beavers, Mt. Juliet; H.E. Bittle, Knoxville; Diane Black, Hendersonville; Jim Boyer, Corryton; Dewayne Bunch, Cleveland; Steven Buttry, Knoxville; Glen Casada, College Grove; Chris Clem, Chattanooga; David Davis, Johnson City; Bill Dunn, Knoxville; Steve Godsey, Blountville; Mark Goins, LaFollette; Jamie Hagood, Knoxville, and Tre' Hargett, Bartlett;
Beth Harwell, Nashville; Russell Johnson, Loudon; Joe Kent, Memphis; Joe McCord, Maryville; Bob McKee, Athens; Richard Montgomery, Seymour; Jason Mumpower, Bristol; Chris Newton, Cleveland; Doug Overbey, Maryville; Bubba Pleasant, Arlington; Dennis Roach, Rutledge; Donna Rowland, Murfreesboro; Charles Sargent, Franklin; Larry Scroggs, Germantown; Jack Sharp, East Ridge, and Paul Stanley, Memphis; Curry Todd, Collierville; Jim Vincent, Soddy Daisy; and Bobby Wood, Harrison.
Democrats voting no
John Arriola, Nashville; Gene Davidson, Adams; Dennis Ferguson, Kingston; Tim Garrett, Goodlettsville; Jere Hargrove, Cookeville; John Hood, Murfreesboro; Mike McDonald, Portland; Gary Odom, Nashville; Pete Phillips, Shelbyville; Phillip Pinion, Union City; David Shepard, Dickson; Mike Turner, Nashville; Ben West, Hermitage; John Mark Windle, Livingston; and Les Winningham, Huntsville.
Democrats voting ''present but not voting''
Frank Buck, Dowelltown; George Fraley, Winchester; Mary Pruitt, Nashville; and John Tidwell, New Johnsonville.
Democrat absent
Sherry Jones, Nashville.
Defectors sink House income tax bill
Stunned Naifeh goes back to work
By Paula Wade wade@gomemphis.com
May 23, 2002
NASHVILLE - House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's tax reform bill went down in a stunning defeat Wednesday after at least six promised supporters bolted at the last minute, leaving the vote at 45-49, with four members abstaining.
Late Wednesday, Naifeh said he would continue to try to win more support for his income tax bill, making changes if necessary and bringing it back up again. "We're going to work to make people more comfortable about it," he said. "We've come too far to disband what we're doing."
Another vote could not happen before next week, however, as the House will not meet in floor session before next Wednesday.
As the vote was taken, the crowded House chamber fell silent as a grim-faced Naifeh held the electronic vote board open for people to change their votes. But aside from the brief wavering of Rep. Bobby Sands (D-Columbia), who ended up voting for the Naifeh bill, nothing changed.
The tally of 45-53 held on that board for almost two hours as House members milled about and a stunned Naifeh went to his office outside the chamber, calling in various members - bolters and supporters - to try to turn things around.
The vote that began at 2:11 was closed finally at 4 p.m., after four "no" votes - all bolters - changed their votes to abstentions, allowing the bill to be referred to the House Calendar Committee.
Outside, several hundred horn-honking anti-tax protesters cheered the defeat, relayed live by Nashville television. Inside the chamber, House members who had risked their political careers to vote for an income tax talked with their colleagues.
"The speaker walked in here with 52 or 53 votes - people lied to him," said Rep. Kathryn Bowers (D-Memphis). "Those members should at least have had enough integrity to tell the speaker where they were."
Sands, who is running for a newly created Senate seat, ultimately voted for Naifeh's tax bill even though its failure was evident. "I ended up voting as I did because it is the right thing to do," Sands said. "It's not a popular vote or an expedient vote, but I voted for something, whether I come back or not. I'm sure these 53 people (who initially voted against the tax) have a better idea of what we ought to do."
Naifeh's bill would have enacted a 4.5 percent tax on adjusted gross incomes beginning Jan. 1, with exemptions of $15,000 for singles and $30,000 for married couples, and $22,050 for single heads of household. It would remove all sales tax from grocery food, clothing and non-prescription drugs, increase taxes on tobacco and alcohol, and would have enacted a one-cent temporary sales tax to plug a funding gap until Jan. 1.
While Naifeh's bill failed to gain a majority in the House, there was no known alternative plan with as much support as his.
The 45 supporters included only five of the 42 House Republicans. One of those is House GOP Leader Steve McDaniel of Parkers Crossroads in West Tennsessee, who acknowledged that he'll probably lose his leadership position as a result of his vote. The GOP's Executive Committee has formally opposed an income tax in any form.
"It's my responsibility to lead. . . . The future of the state of Tennessee is bigger than my position with the caucus. I don't want to serve here if I can't make good decisions to help Tennesseans," said McDaniel. "This bill offers the most reform and more fairness than any other bill I've seen presented.''
One of the bolters, Rep. Frank Buck (D-Dowelltown), told House colleagues that the representatives who talked with Naifeh in the speaker's office - Buck, John Tidwell (D-New Johnsonville), George Fraley (D-Winchester), Chris Newton (R-Cleveland), John Mark Windle (D-Livingston) and Mike Turner (D-Nashville) - were not making untoward deals.
"I want to say to you, ladies and gentlemen, not a man in that room asked anything for themselves or for their districts. All the discussion was about the provisions of the bill and whether we've had enough reform of the way we do business up here. . . . If any one wants to intimate that we were trying to get anything out of anyone, its a complete and utter falsehood . . ."
Rep. Joe Kent (R-Memphis) said he felt compelled to vote against Naifeh's measure, recognizing that most of his new district contains most of Germantown, whose residents would pay more tax under Naifeh's measure.
"A bunch of the suburban Republicans met with the Chambers of Commerce for Germantown and Collierville, and they were all for tax reform, but not for an income tax," Kent said.
He added that he's certain the same group also would not support the extension of sales taxes to services, which falls largely on businesses.
"But I told Naifeh I couldn't vote for it. They were not counting on me," Kent said.
Introducing the measure in the House, Naifeh explained that he'd promised Rep. Tommy Head (D-Clarks- ville) two years ago that "when the opportunity came that I wanted to stand beside him in this well and pass tax reform. It's been a long time coming. It's a defining issue - it will define us as legislators, it will define the state of Tennessee, so much hinges on us passing this.
"We will still have the lowest effective income tax rate in the Southeast. It will provide stability in the way we fund state government. It gives tax relief to low-income families," Naifeh said, adding that federal tax deductibility and the income taxes now paid by Tennesseans working out-of-state will bring in $500 million.
The vote was a major embarrassment for Naifeh and tax reform forces, who had hoped to end four years of stalemate over taxes and resolve the state's crippling budget crisis.
The result even shocked the measure's opponents, since Naifeh had said he would only bring the proposal to a vote after at least 50 members had "looked me in the eye" and pledged support.
"Who was counting the votes? Curly, Larry and Moe?" quipped Rep. Gary Odom (D-Nashville), an opponent of an income tax. "Either that, or several people lied."
Naifeh himself refused to say he'd been lied to. "Perhaps I just misunderstood some people," he said.
Within minutes of the adjournment, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Bredesen issued a statement saying "the income tax came to a vote today, and it clearly failed. Now it's time to move on," echoing the phrase used by Republican candidate Van Hilleary in a letter to lawmakers last week.
In an interview, Bredesen said he issued the release "because I'm very concerned about the process here and I really do think it's time to move on and focus some of that energy on some of the alternatives."
Asked what those alternatives were, he said: "I don't have specific suggestions for them today, but I think it's clearly possible to run state government within the bounds of the money they have. They've focused all their energy on an income tax and clearly that's not going to happen."
Hilleary also urged lawmakers to move on.
"Today was a good day for Tennessee taxpayers," Hilleary's statement read. "Now I hope that Gov. Sundquist and Speaker Naifeh will hear the message the people of Tennessee have sent over and over: It's time to drop the income tax as an option and move on."
But clearly, lawmakers Wednesday were wondering what it is they will move on to.
As the day's session ended, Rep. Mike Kernell (D-Memphis) asked to speak.
"I've got to plan the summer tomorrow for my kids. . . . Could the chairman of finance please advise us when the drop-dead date is when the courts take over the state?"
Rep. Matt Kisber (D-Jackson) responded that the General Assembly must act to balance the state's current-year budget shortfall of $480 million and pass a balanced budget for next year by July 1, the beginning of the state's fiscal year. Doing that without new revenue would entail cutting $1.4 billion in state tax spending from Gov. Don Sundquist's proposed budget.
Contact Nashville Bureau reporter Paula Wade at (615) 242-2018.
The pro-tax legislators gambled on passing an income tax and spent like druken sailors waiting for the cash to come in. Now they're backed into a corner and are screaming "crisis." But it's their fault that we're where we are.
Now, they made this mess, let them clean it up. The income tax is dead. Now do what the people have been telling you all along. Cut the spending.
The boss hogg photo comes from the newspaper.
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