The Stealth Skirt Strikes at the Wall of Taxpayer Ignorance & Good Ole Boy Greed

OMG!!!  The Governor didn’t tell the “hard working” TN taxpayer the “stealth” tax money was going to be used for research to find the BEST spa for oxygen facials for NISSAN executives.    

Tennessee reaps $115 million in stealth taxes

With little debate, lawmakers tack fees onto late-term bills

Bills passed in the waning days of the past four sessions of the state legislature have increased the taxes on Tennessee businesses and individuals by an estimated $115 million a year, while giving tens of millions of dollars more in breaks for corporate relocations and major projects.

These tax bills have raised the cost of propane and gym memberships, closed loopholes that let real estate investors skirt taxes, and instituted a jock tax on professional athletes. Each bill as originally proposed carried more than 150 separate tax measures.

They also have extended tax breaks to companies such as Nissan North America and Hemlock Semiconductor and to economic development projects such as the Music City Center and the proposed medical trade center.

The widening scope of these bills — known in legislative circles as "technical corrections bills" — has led to criticism that they have become stealth tax measures. Designed to fly below the radar of public scrutiny, the bills are introduced and passed at the end of the legislative session, at a time when the attention of lawmakers, the press and the general public is focused on the state budget, critics say.

"These are major tax-policy issues that should be considered on their own," said Ben Cunningham, spokesman for the advocacy group Tennessee Tax Revolt. "So many of the corporate welfare provisions and the increases are now in the technical corrections bill."

Defenders include Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has proposed such a bill in each year of his administration. He says the bills have mainly corrected laws that were being exploited by businesses, including many located outside Tennessee, to cut their taxes unfairly.

"Remember the old Whack-A-Mole game," he said. "There's always a lot of people figuring out ways to beat the system."

But the measures also served as the vehicles by which the state extended tax incentives to Nissan to move from Southern California to Middle Tennessee, Hemlock to build its polysilicon plant in Robertson County and Jackson National Life Insurance's decision to open a regional headquarters in Cool Springs. In most instances, lawmakers were not told what companies the incentives would be for…………..

Tennessee Angry Taxpayers ...  The NISSAN
 
Good Ole Boys are Republican....  Both "sides"

are guilty of wasting Tennessee Taxpayer

money.   THIS IS NOTHING TO START A

TEA PARTY ABOUT.....