Posted on 01/07/2003 6:29:45 PM PST by GailA
TFT blasts Tennessee for regressive tax structure Wednesday, January 08, 2003
By Hank Hayes Times-News
KINGSPORT - Taxation in Tennessee has gone from bad to worse, according to a statewide group that continues to advocate tax reform.
In a series of news conferences held statewide, Tennesseans for Fair Taxation announced the release of a report concluding that Tennessee has moved from having the sixth to the third most regressive tax structure in the nation.
The report, done by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said Tennessee is among 10 states asking their poorest residents - those in the bottom 20 percent of the income scale - to pay up to 5½ times as great a share of their earnings in taxes as those states ask the wealthy to pay.
"By taxing necessities like food and clothing, but not six-figure incomes, Tennessee is forcing low- and middle-income families to carry an unfair share of the state tax burden," said TFT Chair John Stewart in a prepared release.
A state income tax plan failed narrowly in the legislature last year, and Gov.-elect Phil Bredesen said he would not push tax reform when he campaigned for office.
But TFT believes the idea of tax reform is still alive, based on recent court rulings that could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
"It's not going to go away. It's not dead," TFT spokeswoman Lizajean Holt said of tax reform at the group's Kingsport news conference held at the downtown public library. "We're still around. We're not going to go anywhere."
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that works on government taxation and spending policy issues, said the other nine states with a regressive tax system are Washington, Florida, South Dakota, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Alabama.
According to ITEP, the characteristics making the states regressive include the fact that six of the 10 states lack a broad-based personal income tax, and eight of the 10 rely heavily on sales and excise taxes. ITEP based the report on data from the 2000 census and available tax data, according to TFT.
TFT claims to have more than 300 dues-paying members, about 5,600 supporters, and an annual budget of approximately $250,000.
The full ITEP report, including data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, can be accessed online at www.itepnet.org. TFT can be found at www.yourtax.org.
Not having a State income tax on top of a sales tax is a crime now?I s there a state that has an income tax, but no slaes tax?
Why cant they just work within estimated state budget? Oh, I forgot, they want to have free health care for all those illigal aliens who come through for the fake IDs and drivers licenses.
The "study" is very suspect just on that fact alone. Their numbers are grossly wrong.
I'd like to see a study that shows the absolute amount per capita that the various income groups pay in total taxes. I think we'd come up with a totally different picture of who's carrying the weight.
Tennessee is not a progressive taxation state and there's nothing wrong with that. There are 49 other states to choose from if you don't like that.
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