August 7, 2002
Now that the primary is over, the two gubernatorial nominees are beginning to give us an inkling of what their administrations would be like. Republican Van Hilleary stated that he would work to repeal the recent one-cent sales tax increase. Democrat Phil Bredesen immediately shot back that such a move would be “irresponsible.” Irresponsible?
Mr. Bredesen maintains that scaling back the sales tax would result in laying off 9,000 teachers and cutting TennCare back to Medicaid. Now, wait a minute. Wasn't it Bredesen who said just a few months ago that he could manage us out of this so-called crisis without a tax increase? Wasn't that before the massive tax increase? What happened?
I'll tell you exactly what happened. History shows that Mr. Bredesen's way of managing through a financial crisis is raising taxes. Don't take my word for it. Just ask the citizens of Nashville. Mayor Bredesen gave the moon and the stars to Bud Adams and left the citizens holding the bag. Property rates went up at historically high rates. The water company was taxed, which was passed along to the consumers, to fund the deal. Then a similar deal was made with the Predators. Now the arena is hemorrhaging at the rate of $5 million per year and the taxpayers of Nashville are left to mop up the mess.
Can I assure you that Van Hilleary won't raise your taxes? Of course not. Only Hilleary can make that assurance. What I can do is intelligently look at their records. Bredesen made deals of corporate welfare on scales heretofore unmatched in this country. Hilleary, on the other hand, has had numerous opportunities to take the tax increase route in Congress and has never voted for one. Never.
Now Hilleary wants to repeal the largest tax increase in our state's history and Bredesen says it's irresponsible. Let me tell you what's irresponsible. It's irresponsible to grow the state government at two and three times the rate of inflation and population growth during economic good times without any thought of the future. It's irresponsible to encourage one out of every four citizens of this state to seek government medical assistance. It's irresponsible not to demand a top-to-bottom audit of state government to uncover the waste, fraud and abuse. It's the ultimate in irresponsibility to then pass along the largest tax increase in state history to its citizens.
It's equally irresponsible to allow such conduct to go unchallenged, to accept a huge tax increase without fighting to repeal it. Simply accepting such a tax increase without a natural inclination to challenge it should give you a glimpse into one's soul.
Mr. Bredesen seems all too eager to move past the income tax debate and for good reason. Questions about it make him nervous. The election in November is going to be about, not only the income tax issue, but trust. Who will you trust to stand up to the big spenders in the general assembly and the overbearing lobbyists? I think Phil Bredesen is a fine man and I like him, personally. However, I've lived under the effects of his sweetheart deals and corporate welfare. Especially in light of the recent corporate scandals, I don't believe that's a path we need to take.