Posted on 07/05/2002 5:54:49 AM PDT by GailA
Edited on 05/07/2004 9:20:04 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
State lawmakers wound up their 102nd session yesterday after a grueling four-year fight over taxes and returned home to face voters and questions about why they approved the largest tax increase in the state's history. Most legislators interviewed by The Tennessean acknowledged that the tax vote could hurt members seeking re-election. However, with an income tax dead, they said they had no choice but to vote for the $933 million tax package so 22,000 furloughed state employees could return to work and state government could resume normal operations.
(Excerpt) Read more at tennessean.com ...
Record tax increase designed to spread the pain
By JOHN SHIFFMAN, JAY HAMBURG and ROB JOHNSON
The compromise bill that ultimately rescued lawmakers from their budget quagmire can be traced to a casual conversation that took place under the Capitol Rotunda last Friday between a senator and a representative, with business interests close at hand.
Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, approached Rep. Charles Curtiss, D-Sparta, with a compromise tax plan he knew that no one would love but which might just spread the pain around enough to have a shot at passing.
''Besides being the last bill there, except for the no-new-taxes bill, it was explained to me that this bill would raise enough money in sales taxes to give the new governor enough time to get settled and start managing things,'' Curtiss recalled late Wednesday night. ''The biggest thing for me, too, was that they said it was not going to affect our bond rating — hopefully. Although it's not a long-term measure, it's not a temporary measure.''
Justin Wilson, senior policy adviser to Gov. Don Sundquist, said the measure succeeded because ''there was very little in the bill that was disastrous to any particular interest, except the public interest in general.''
The bill also had appeal because it was based primarily on existing taxes and would be easy for weary lawmakers to understand.
''We didn't have to reinvent the wheel at all,'' Curtiss said. Curtiss, who is a safety officer for a Sparta automotive plant that manufacturers alternators and starters, said he thinks he was chosen to shepherd the bill in the House because he has ''a good rapport with both sides of the aisle.'' Originally, he had voted for the income tax, then pulled back and changed his mind after outrage from his district.
Several lawmakers credited business lobbyists for helping craft the compromise bill.
During an early morning meeting Wednesday, a group of legislators asked Rep. Frank Buck, D-Dowelltown, if he thought lobbyists played a large role in the Cooper-Curtiss plan.
''Oh, yeah,'' said Buck, rolling his eyes.
Later, Curtiss rose to address the group, and he confirmed the bill's origin.
After the bill passed late Wednesday, several lobbyists also confirmed they helped craft the measure.
''The bill was something the business community could live with, for the most part,'' said Ronnie Hart, a lobbyist for the Tennessee Restaurant Association.
''We spread this as thin and as painless as possible. It's not by any means what anybody wanted. But covering a lot of people in a little way became something that we could support.''
Cooper, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he was ''really concerned'' about the impact that an alternative tax proposal offered by Buck and Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, would have had on business. ''We were looking for something better.'' Did the lobbyists pen the bill?
''Oh, no,'' said Cooper, sipping a celebratory beverage Wednesday night. ''It was (Sen. Bill) Clabough (R-Maryville) and me.''
He waited a beat.
''Well, you can say that we got input from the lobbyists. You know how it works. And I'm sure the other members who were talking to us were hearing from the lobbyists, too.''
Lt. Gov. John Wilder, however, called the compromise plan ''nobody's bill,'' not a lobbyist-driven measure.
''It was the best we could do,'' he said. ''We didn't want the state to go broke.''
Even at the last moment Wednesday night, the Cooper-Curtiss bill almost missed the required 50 votes by one vote.
The 50th vote, Rep. Bobby Wood, R-Harrison, had just returned from a funeral near Chattanooga and was missing.
Curtiss sent a search party, led by Rep. H.E. Bittle, R-Knoxville, who he said is a professional tracker who helps rescue people lost in the Smoky Mountains.
Bittle soon found the 50th vote asleep in his office — and brought him back to the House chamber.
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/midsouth_news/article/0,1426,MCA_1497_1246686,00.html
Lawmakers raise sales, other taxes to end shutdown
By Paula Wade and Richard Locker wade@gomemphis.com locker@gomemphis.com
July 4, 2002
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee legislature Wednesday raised the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent beginning July 15, and hiked other taxes to restore state government to full operation Friday morning after four days in partial shutdown.
Lawmakers adopted the mostly lobbyist-written tax plan after House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, Gov. Don Sundquist and other reform-minded advocates of an income tax conceded defeat Wednesday morning, ending a 3d-year budget stalemate. Sundquist said he will sign the bill passed Wednesday.
They could probably save about $550 million by getting rid of half of those 22,000 furloughed state employees.
Thursday, July 04, 2002
The Secret Surplus
State Sen. Curtis Person , a Memphis Republican representing the 1st District, has issued the following letter detailing his growing suspicion that, far from being broke, the state in fact is secreting large surpluses and unspent funds by moving them into asset accounts that can't be touched, and how Sundquist administration officials aren't willing to be very forthcoming about it.
Sen. Person writes:
Dear Friends:
Recently, I began searching for answers to accounting practices that affect the use of surplus funds. Apparently, many state departments and agencies are taking surpluses at the end of a budget cycle and transferring them on paper into asset accounts. This appears to be a standard practice and once the funds are placed in asset accounts they become investments and do not appear as taxpayer dollars in the budget for the next fiscal year. This is a legal accounting practice; however, I believe any and all surplus funds belong to you, the taxpayers of Tennessee. Surpluses should be returned to the General Fund so they can be used as revenue or rebated to you. They should, at the very least, be applied to budget shortfalls before we ask the citizens of Tennessee to pay more taxes to fund state government.
I have written two letters to our Finance Commissioner, Warren Neel, asking for specific information regarding surplus funds in accounts labeled "Designated Reserves" and "Undesignated Reserves." To date, I have not received satisfactory answers from him. I addressed this matter in a caucus meeting and twice on the floor of the Senate. Each time I asked the members to research the use of these funds. So far, my colleagues have not responded.
I inquired and received a response from John Morgan, our State Comptroller. However, it is vague and claims it will take additional time for his staff to provide answers to my inquiry.
If there is truth to the information I have received regarding the departments and agencies hoarding taxpayer funds to cushion their own excessive spending, I want a thorough, independent audit of our accounting practices with the complete report published for every citizen to read. The lack of responses and specific answers regarding reserve funds causes me a great deal of concern and emphasizes the immediate need to question accounting practices being used by the State of Tennessee.
Now, I am asking you for your help in this matter. Please contact your Senators and State Representatives and ask them to demand answers to the use of surplus and reserve funds that are in reality your money!
I have no idea how much money should be available from these account overages to apply toward funding our State. However, I do know that this money belongs to the taxpayers of Tennessee. If there is any amount at all in any reserve funds anywhere, the right thing to do is to use it wisely as you have entrusted us to do.
Sincerely, Curtis Person, Jr. State Senator
This shows you WHO State Legislators are concerned about. How many citizens are going to lose their jobs with the increased tax burden? What was the Governor's reaction, he was p-o'ed that the Legislature didn't fund his pet program? His problem was that the legislature did NOT spend enough. Any half serious person could take a chainsaw to any government budget and wouldn't hurt a thing, since most of what government does is worthless in any case.
What is interesting is they furloughed only those employees that actually do something for the public. How many of them sit in back rooms and get paid with our taxes to recommend the number of highway reflectors per mile between Nashville and Memphis?
But... but... but those guys have been busy, I noticed on my way home through Nashville last night that there aren't as many as there used to be!
Seriously, we went up to Louisville Tuesday for a funeral, and the government shutdown made our drive MUCH more pleasant than it would have been, since the road crews were absent. Also, the truck stops were doing extra business because the state rest areas were closed. (And with the TDOT free service trucks also parked, I suppose the commercial service trucks were busier, as well.) There was a line waiting to use the bathroom where we stopped near the Tennessee river. I'm sorry they finally settled the budget - skinny government is good for travel AND for business!
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