Are we under taxed in Nashville?

by Rod Williams - According the The Tennessean the Chamber of Commerce all but says we are under taxed. In an article, Nashville's government revenue not keeping pace with peer cities, Chamber's financial study shows, the Tennessean says:

Nashville is facing many of the same challenges as its peer cities across the nation — a lack of affordable housing, the need for more transit options and navigating technological opportunities and challenges.
But Metro government's revenues — largely through taxes and fees — have not kept pace with those same cities.
The city's tax burden is the lowest among nine cities, according to a new report released Friday from Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Greater Nashville Realtors.

Before you buy this whole hog,  stop and consider these factors:

1. A lower tax rate does not necessarily mean a lower tax burden.  The median home price in Nashville according to Kiplinger is $265,000.  One of our peer cities is Louisville Kentucky were the average home price is $170,000.  Nashville's tax rate could be lower but one's property tax bill still higher if the value of the property is higher.
2. More of our "county" is in the "city" compared to our peer cities and our "county" tax rate is higher than theirs.  When comparing property tax rates, for our peer cities, all of the studies I have examined add together the city and the county tax rates.  We in Nashville have a Metropolitan form of government but we still have something comparable to "city" and "county".  We have an Urban Services Tax District and a General Services Tax District. The rate for our General Services District is what would be the County tax rate in other jurisdictions and the Urban Services Tax District would be what would be a combined county and city tax rate in other jurisdictions. While our Urban Tax Services District may not be as high as some peer cities combined city and county tax rates, often our General Services Tax Rate is higher than the county tax rate of the county in which these peer cities reside.  Also, our "city limits" (Urban Services District) encompasses more of the county than does the city limits of our peer cities. 

So, please don't bye the argument that we are under taxed.  Take this argument with a grain of salt.  Even if it was true that Nashville was taking in less revenue than peer cities, all cities seem to be having the same problems.  Would raising taxes solve those problems?

Even if we had a lower tax burden than our peer cities, I would not conclude we are under taxed but would conclude those peer cities are over taxed.

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Bellevue Republican Breakfast Club to meet Sat. March 7

From Betty Hood:

Dear BRBC Friends,

It's that time again.  Our breakfast club will meet Saturday, March 7 at 8:15 am at the Corner Pub in the Woods on Hwy 100.

Our speaker will be Johnny Presley, a candidate for the US Senate.  He's  from the Crossville area.  Come and hear his reasons for making this run.  There will be time for Q and A after his presentation.

Hope to see you there.
Betty

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Disaster Relief: DCYD & DCYR Join Forces

Davidson County Young Democrats and Davidson County Young Republicans are joining forces to put our city back together. Please come and join us! Bring gloves, dust masks, rakes, brooms, and chainsaws if you have them.

Because of the evolving need, we are working on finding an area that will benefit from us showing up en force. We will continue to update this page as we get closer to Saturday morning.

Saturday at 7:30 AM – 1:30 PM

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The costs of Gov. Bill Lee's family leave policy could exceed $5 million. Probably closer to $25 million.

by Rod Williams - The Tennessean reports that taxpayers would have paid more than $5 million to cover the costs of thousands of state employees who were on leave last year if Gov. Bill Lee’s latest proposal had been enacted. This number was calculated based on the amount of unpaid leave that employees took last year plus the cost of overtime to cover for absent employees.  The amount of unpaid leave came to $4.2 million. 

If $4.2 million is the monetary value of the unpaid leave employees took, then $5 million has got to be a very conservative unrealistic estimate of what paid family leave would cost.  I am sure there are lots of employees who took only a few days of unpaid leave for the birth of a child or the death of a parent but who would have taken much more if it was paid leave.  A lot of people simply cannot afford to miss many paychecks. I bet lots of fathers who may have taken a week off for the birth of a child, would have taken the full twelve weeks off, if the State was going to pay them for twelve weeks off.

I am not opposed to the policy proposal.  However, if has to be paid for. Perhaps it could be paid for by making the payment a lien against retirement benefits or adjusting the pay increase schedules, but to pretend there is not a cost is ridiculous. A fiscal note has not yet been developed for the proposal. To read The Tennessean story, follow this link.

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Metro council member Steve Glover facing criticism for social media post on Boy Scouts

Steve Glover posted the below Facebook post which resulted in criticism from Councilman Bob Mendes and others. I am proud of Steve Glover for sharing his views on this topic.  We conservatives for too long have allowed liberals to dominate the popular culture.  We have allowed political correctness to dominate and have been cowered. It is past time to speak up and fight back.  To read the Channel 5 coverage of this story, follow this link.

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Five things you missed at Metro Council (and what to keep watching)

For the summary by the Business Journal of what happened at the most recent Council meeting, follow this link. 

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Change of location. "Wealth Taxation and Inequality in America" with Phil Magness; Bastiat Society, March 5.

Change of location: 

Where

Hampton Inn

5630 Franklin Pike Cir.
Brentwood, TN 37027
Join AIER's Bastiat Society program in Nashville for a talk with AIER's Phil Magness, Author and

Phil Magness

Senior Research Fellow.

Is inequality rising in the United States? Is wealth taxation, as desired by several presidential candidates, a viable solution? This talk will take a scrutinizing look at the underlying data of the inequality debate, including how politicians and their economic advisers have manipulated statistical measures of income and wealth to create the illusion of an inequality crisis.

Thu Mar 5th 6:00pm - 7:30pm (CST)
ADS Security, Suite 100, 3001 Armory Dr #100, Nashville, TN 37204
Phil Magness 
Registration Required. Register Here.

More about the speaker: Phil Magness is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. Echoing the warnings of Bastiat and Tocqueville, his research area encompasses the two great political problems of the 19th century United States: slavery and taxation. Magness is the coauthor of the critically acclaimed book Colonization after Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement (University of Missouri Press).

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Common Ground Nashville March meeting will focus on immigration.

From Common Ground Nashville:
The March CGN meeting with focus on immigration-- including the values that we can find common ground on regardless of where we consider ourselves on the political spectrum. Reply to  scarusorn@gmail.com. When you RSVP, you can also request articles we are distributing for discussion.
 Bring a dish from your family's country of origin to share.


Thursday March 5th at 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Forest Hills United Methodist Church
1250 Old Hickory Blvd, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027

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