I'm not the source of the anonymous post above, but I thought I would share some info with you. TN has what is called "the Hall tax", which means about 6% of investment gains on stocks and bonds go to the state, something that hits the rich much harder than the poor, clearly.
To date, all of the proposals to introduce an income tax include a quiet repeal of Hall tax. This is why disgraceful Sunquist and many rich favor an income tax. If the Hall tax goes away, burden will be shifted heavily to the middle class, which is what the legislature is protecting against when they keep prevent the income tax from passing. An income tax might be more fair in theory, but none that have been proposed fit that description because they involve repealing Hall.
Besides, states always promise to reduce sales tax if people accept an income tax. They know you're comfortable paying 6% sales tax, so they reduce it to 3% for a while so you'll swallow the income tax. Then, they slowly notch sales tax back up to where it was. People have fallen for this trick in about 40 states so far.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
hey
Date: 2002-07-01 01:03 pm (UTC)To date, all of the proposals to introduce an income tax include a quiet repeal of Hall tax. This is why disgraceful Sunquist and many rich favor an income tax. If the Hall tax goes away, burden will be shifted heavily to the middle class, which is what the legislature is protecting against when they keep prevent the income tax from passing. An income tax might be more fair in theory, but none that have been proposed fit that description because they involve repealing Hall.
Besides, states always promise to reduce sales tax if people accept an income tax. They know you're comfortable paying 6% sales tax, so they reduce it to 3% for a while so you'll swallow the income tax. Then, they slowly notch sales tax back up to where it was. People have fallen for this trick in about 40 states so far.
-Alan