The website is being taken down today, so in case you missed the final message about the campaign here it is. This is a sad day for working families in Tennessee, states Dick Williams of the Vote No on 3 campaign. With Amendment 3s passage, Tennessee is heading for a future of double-digit sales taxes on food and other needs, property tax hikes, and damaging cuts to education and other already underfunded programs. Amendment 3 passed on November 4, effectively barring a state income tax. John Stewart, a volunteer with the campaign adds, It doesnt take a genius to figure out that banning a state income tax only guarantees that other taxes, particularly those that impact low- and middle-income families like the sales and food tax, will go up. Tennessee already has the highest average sales tax in the nation at 9.45%, reaching 9.75% in some counties. Stewart adds, Further increases of the sales tax will only hurt local businesses, cost jobs, and place a heavy load on the backs of working families. Our media outlets were complicit in repeating, without questioning or critically examining, the false arguments of the Yes on 3 campaign, adds Bill Howell, Treasurer of the campaign. The fact is, Sen. Kelseys no-income-tax strategy for job creation has been a complete failure to date. Tennessee has one of the highest unemployment rates in the South at 7.3%, higher than 6 of our 8 neighboring states, all of which have a state income tax. Instead of bringing jobs, our lopsided tax system has starved education and other services vital to real job creation. The most troubling aspect of this whole race is the way in which big money interests have trampled the interests of the average Tennesseans, adds Howell. Funding for the Yes on 3 campaign came overwhelmingly from a handful of wealthy donors. In fact, the single largest donor of the Yes on 3 campaign was a St. Louis-based lobbying firm. The last I checked, St. Louis is not in Tennessee, yet it is a Missouri-based lobbying firm that is shaping our Constitution Future generations of Tennesseans will now be denied the democratic right to decide how best to fund public programs and face the challenges of their time, adds Williams. Instead, they will be locked into a future with a double-digit sales tax on food and other basic needs, property tax hikes, and chronic budget shortfalls.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 19:29:26 +0000
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