Posted on 05/24/2002 5:40:58 AM PDT by GailA
Edited on 05/07/2004 9:20:01 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Deficiencies in TennCare and other complaints that some lawmakers said kept them from supporting a state income tax plan are being addressed, backers of the tax said yesterday.
Rep. Matt Kisber, D-Jackson, a co-sponsor of the tax bill, said rules that will govern TennCare after July 1 would prohibit enrollees with financial means from escaping premium payments, a complaint lodged by one lawmaker.
(Excerpt) Read more at tennessean.com ...
800-449-8366 + 1 + the last 4 digits of their legislative office or 615-741-3011 (capitol switchboard).
If you live in a bordering State and work in TN YOUR INCOME WILL BE SUBJECTED TO THIS INCOME TAX. HELP US DEFEAT IT! BE THERE WEDNESDAY IF YOU CAN. MAKE PHONE CALLS OR EMAILS. PROTECT YOUR PAY CHECK.
Photos like this and the photo on this page are pictorial evidence of the dictum that power corrupts. I thought about the photos of the riot cops attempting to intimidate and frighten the protestors all day, and sometimes I admit I looked at the troopers' pudgy bellies and thought, "Hey guys, lay off the donuts!" But mostly, I was sickened.
If you weren't sickened by the sight of armed riot cops blocking the entrance to the state Capitol as the people's alleged representatives sought to impose an unwanted an unconstitutional income tax, you need a refresher course in what it, supposedly, means to live in a free democratic republic.
Hint: it ISN'T armed riot cops threatening to bludgeon with wooden bats anyone who dares attempt to enter their state Capitol to protest the possible enactment of an unconstitutional new tax.
And trust me, had you attempted to pass these storm troopers of the Sundquist administration, you would have been stopped with violence force. Never forget that last year an anti-tax protestor was physically assaulted by a state trooper for being loud.
CLICK LINK FOR FULL ARTICLE and to access links in the article.HOBBSONLINE
Americanism or Elitism? Your Choice
by David Coffey
Wow! The Naifeh move for a recorded income tax vote in the House has exposed those who are for and against. It's a political earthquake. Now bring on the elections and let the chips fall where they may.
The Legislature did not cave in to the manipulations of Naifeh, Rochelle and Sundquist to pass an income tax (yet). That would not have been "doing the right thing." In fact, it would be the dishonorable thing, certain to haunt them the rest of their lives. Here's why:
A Tennessee IT comes in two distinct forms; let's call them red and green. The red IT is passed by the Legislature in defiance of public opinion. It is contrary to the decisions of Tennessee Supreme Courts, which have repeatedly ruled that a tax on earned income is unconstitutional. And the red IT is a money grab by those who lust for unlimited access to your earnings.
But the green IT is passed by Tennessee voters after a Constitutional Convention. It is the will of the people. If passed, it would be through Americanism 101 - "of the people, by the people, for the people." You can be sure that it would provide for a very limited IT.
Note the difference: red is of, by and for politicians, lobbyists and the hoard of Bombay Beggars who are attracted to Nashville by the smell of your money being doled out. Green is of, by and for the people.
Got it?
Our leaders have cleverly moved the Nashville debate to the most irrelevant point - "Is the Naifeh/Rochelle/Sundquist tax fair?" The answer does not matter. What matters is that it would break the constitutional ban. Then it can be changed as each legislature sees fit. The red IT is a Trojan horse!
This power play is a defining moment for Tennessee history. Here we maintain or lose control of our government.
You may have noticed that we have not arrived at this crucial time by accident. Those who promote the red IT have overspent for years leading up to this. The Administration proposed bloated budgets (based on a non-existent IT) and legislative leaders, with a wink, agreed. They spent one-time money for ongoing programs knowing that it would lead to crisis.
They and the media have tried to place a guilt trip on you for not giving enough to government. Baloney! You generously give more than one-third of your earnings to government at all levels. Too, as Tennesseans you give more to charity than almost any other state. State poverty levels are falling faster than nationally. You are tops!
The real problem is government spending at a level that is intentionally out of control. In recent years the rate of growth of state spending has far exceed inflation and population growth. TennCare controls have been turtle-slow in coming. Court demands for more spending have been weakly challenged.
So, it's all planned. In Nashville, elitism reigns supreme with outrageous spending, uncontrolled programs and an unconstitutional IT proposal to grab more of what's yours.
The elites, the chosen few, would rule your life. They must be brought under control or Tennessee will become a more socialist state. It's a question of who rules, you or they.
David Coffey is an Oak Ridge businessman and a former member of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Law enforcement officers are servants of the people. State enforcement officers are flunkies of the government. One has a free will, the other is a willing slave.
Tax backers remain unbowed amid fears of cuts if effort fails
"In some of the rural school districts, if we end up cutting $400 million out of education, we're talking about whole systems who won't be able to open the school doors." - |Rep. Chris Newton (R-Cleveland)
By Richard Locker and Paula Wade locker@gomemphis.com wade@gomemphis.com
May 24, 2002
NASHVILLE - What now?
As the dust settled from Wednesday's dramatic reversal for House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's state income tax plan, the question rang through the state Capitol to city halls, county courthouses and school districts across Tennessee Thursday, where officials are drafting budgets for a fiscal year 38 days away and with billions of dollars in state aid now in jeopardy.
Weary but unbowed legislative leaders insisted Thursday they have not given up on the Naifeh plan, which fell five votes short of the 50 required for House passage.
"We had a temporary setback yesterday," Naifeh said Thursday. "I intend to continue working to put this state back in a sound financial position. I'm just taking it day by day, member by member, and I'm trying to stay positive."
But lawmakers acknowledged that if Naifeh's tax reform plan ultimately fails, the likelihood of massive cuts - including big reductions in education spending - and the diversion of state tax dollars now flowing to local governments looms larger. That's because no other substantial tax plan has as much support in the House as Naifeh's plan has.
If there are no new taxes, we "need cuts in the $1.1 billion range," House Finance Committee chairman Matt Kisber (D-Jackson) said Thursday. MY NOTE: strange this figure keeps growing just yesterday it was only in the $800M range, which is what will happen if the IT is passed..it will grow just like the sales tax has grown, and grown and grown.
The House and Senate don't meet again in floor sessions until next Wednesday, and Naifeh said he is unsure when he will attempt another vote on his flat-rate 4.5 percent income tax plan. The plan includes exemptions ranging from $15,000 to $30,000, and it would also repeal sales taxes on grocery food, clothing up to $100 and nonprescription drugs.
But as lawmakers headed home for the weekend, the message Thursday was Naifeh has an undetermined window of time to try to sway five House members to his side and pass the bill in the House, after which the battle would shift to the more recalcitrant Senate.
Rep. Chris Newton (R-Cleveland) is one of the members who Naifeh had counted on to support his plan, but who bolted from the speaker's camp when the measure was put to a vote. He came near to tears on Thursday as he talked about the "horrible internal struggle" leading to the vote.
"On the one hand, it's your word. I've run since 1992 as being opposed to an unconstitutional income tax. How do you change your vote under those circumstances?" Newton said, adding he intends to go home to his district and talk to his supporters this weekend. "I need to ask them first."
Naifeh said Wednesday he will try to find some way to make the five to seven members he thought were "yes" votes comfortable enough to vote for it. But while Naifeh is working, there will also be new pressure on the 49 House members who voted against the income tax plan to advance an alternative.
"I suggested to the speaker last night that the ones who voted no should be made into a committee, the rest of us will go home, and when they come up with their plan, we'll come back and vote on it," said Rep. Carol Chumney (D-Memphis). She was one of the 45 who voted for Naifeh's plan.
Newton said he fears what will happen if lawmakers can't agree on substantial new revenues and end up having to pass - or having a court impose - the so-called DOGS budget (for Downsizing Ongoing Government Services).
"I fear that we're not going to be able to pass revenue and we're not going to be able to make the cuts. In some of the rural school districts, if we end up cutting $400 million out of education, we're talking about whole systems who won't be able to open the school doors," said Newton. "The responsibility of 5 million Tennesseans is on our shoulders right now - the ones who voted no - and I don't take that lightly."
Newton said his proposal broadening sales taxes to most services has less support than Naifeh's plan.
The DOGS budget plan would also cut $100 million from higher education, close state parks, close the departments of Tourism and Economic Development, and cut more than $200 million from other programs. It's an option no one in the House has been willing to put his name on.
Other options include keeping part of the $700 million a year the state sends to cities and counties, a choice local governments say would force large increases in their property taxes.
The most likely "state-shared" revenue - money raised from state-levied taxes but distributed to cities and counties - targeted for retention by the state is the existing investment income tax. The state keeps five-eighths of the income tax revenue and sends the other three-eighths to local governments, where it was collected. That benefits the four largest cities and the more affluent enclaves like Germantown, Collierville, Brentwood, Signal Mountain and Williamson County.
If the $61 million in income tax revenue now sent to cities and counties were diverted into the K-12 school funding formula, it could offset some of the education cuts.
"I think the state-shared taxes are on the table," but only as part of a temporary fix of the budget problems, Kisber said. Also up for possible diversion into the general fund, he said, is the previously untouched state highway fund.
Other tax options, which could be tried in combination, include so-called "sin" taxes. Doubling the state taxes on tobacco products would raise about $82 million, and doubling alcohol taxes would net $84 million, assuming no reduction in consumption.
A $25 increase in car tag fees would bring in $108 million, and extending the Hall Income Tax to all capital gains would raise $110 million.
The Senate was mostly relegated to a rapt observer of the House drama Wednesday, and Sen. Jim Kyle (D-Memphis) said the upper chamber is willing to give the House more time.
"I believe we will wait to see what happens. If I had to guess - and it's just a guess - my guess is that Speaker Naifeh will pass an income tax and the Senate will follow suit or we'll have a DOGS budget.
''There are 45 people in the House who I don't foresee voting for a sales tax. Therefore we will pass an income tax or the DOGS budget or some variation of it," Kyle said Thursday.
Contact Nashville Bureau chief Richard Locker at (615) 255-4923.
Contact Nashville Bureau reporter Paula Wade at (615) 242-2018.
Income Tax Issue Still Looming Over Legislature
Income Tax Battle Update
Reporter: Chris Bundgaard
Yet another income tax vote looms for Tennessee's legislature, but the question is when. Supporters think it's just a matter of time, but others aren't so sure.
With a disbelieving look, house leaders Jimmy Naifeh and Lois Deberry counted up the narrow failure of Wednesday's income tax vote. At the same time Wednesday, tax protestors at the capitol celebrated the outcome of the first house income tax in over 70 years.
On Thursday morning, House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh spoke of how he plans to keep the plan alive.
"Well, we are just trying to work our way through this, and we'll do so. There's a comfort level that needs to be raised, and we are going to attempt to do that. We are going to work on reforms."
Those reforms include some in the state's controversial TennCare system and an accounting practice called Performance Based Budgeting.
On Wednesday, though, Naifeh chose the highly unusual move of keeping the voting open for nearly two hours in hopes some members would change their mind. He did get four lawmakers to change their votes from the red "no" to the blue "present, but not voting."
One Nashville democrat explained why she did it.
"Someone said are you willing to come and change it, and I said yes, that is what I have been talking about all along. Let's look at the bill, let's look at those things that people are concerned about," said Rep. Mary Pruitt.
She's concerned with parts of the bill upping the sales tax if courts find the income tax unconstitutional.
Another lawmaker who might feel pressure is Chris Newton. Thursday, the republican said he'll ask his east Tennessee constituents this weekend what he should do after making a promise to vote against an income tax, but he fears schools in his district could close without more education money. Newton said deciding what to do might be the worst weekend of his life.
Speaker Naifeh said that without the four votes changing to one less than the majority, 50, house rules would have prevented further discussion of any tax bills this year, and he said few lawmakers want that.
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