Can Tennessee afford a double-digit sales tax on food and other basic needs? What about a statewide property tax? Or further cuts to education, first responders, and senior services? If you answer "no" to any of these questions, then you should vote "NO" on Amendment 3. While on its surface, Amendment 3 prohibits a state income tax, it does far more than that. It places Tennessee on a dead-end road to a double-digit sales tax, property tax hikes, and more budget cuts. That's what Amendment 3 means for Tennessee.
What's worse, it's a remedy for a problem that doesn't exist. There is no threat of an income tax. No income tax bill has surfaced since Gov. Don Sundquist's proposal in 2002. With the current General Assembly and governor, there is no chance an income tax will be considered any time soon. Even if Amendment 3 fails, Tennessee will not have an income tax.
But if Amendment 3 passes, future generations will have no real options when a crisis comes other than a double-digit sales tax. This legislature seems to think they know better than future generations what the state of Tennessee will need in the next decades. Do they have a crystal ball?
What is Tennessee's current financial state? The bare bones budget for 2014-15 arrived with large cuts to the services and infrastructure we need. Basics like roads and bridges were cut. Clean water and clean air protection, services to fight forest fires, and help for the disabled and child services were cut. Basics like funds for K-12 education and support for the University of Tennessee were cut. UTK students and their parents took a big tuition hit. UTC's tuition increase was only a fraction smaller. UTK is now charging the highest in-state tuition of any public SEC school.
Passage of Amendment 3 would also impose a greater burden on those with less income. Working people, retired people on fixed incomes, and the poor would pay higher prices for food, clothing and the roofs over their heads as the sales tax and property taxes climb. Despite popular perceptions, rich people don't just buy more stuff. They buy different stuff -- private school tuition, maid service, stocks and bonds -- the kind of things that are not subject to the sales tax. That's why sales taxes fall so much more heavily on working families.
Of the eight Southeastern states, Tennessee has a higher unemployment rate than six of our neighbors. Not having an income tax apparently hasn't helped us there. Virginia has an income tax, yet has the lowest unemployment rate in the Southeast. As independent studies show, new employers will come here if we have a well-trained workforce and good schools for the manager's kids, as well as good transportation for materials and products.
Tennessee is a low-tax state and a low-service state. We have low taxes but we also have an educational system that consistently scores low in comparison to the rest of the country. We pay a lot to train new workers as part of the financial packages the governor and our mayors give to bring new business here. Poor basic education and low numbers of college graduates do not bode well for bringing in new business.
Taxes are the revenue that pays for our democracy. Whether large or small, government and its services must be paid for by taxes that are collected. The current tax system is unfair and inadequate. A future of sales tax hikes on food and other basic needs should not be locked into the Tennessee Constitution. We should allow our children and grandchildren flexibility for the future they face as our state's needs change. They deserve the right to choose tax policies that work for them.
Joan Hamner is a Chattanooga resident, retired attorney, and member of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.