Reacting to the cancellation of the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, the Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable suggested one way members of the Tennessee General Assembly could react.
“This ruling once again silences Nashville voters and taxpayers who continue to be saddled with harmful tax increases. Nashvillians are tired of Mayor Cooper and Metro’s spending addiction that put the city in jeopardy of a state takeover,” Venable said in an emailed press release.
“The court’s decision only perpetuates the fiscal mismanagement we’ve seen and places an even greater need on the state legislature to strengthen our Truth in Taxation law that will insert some sense of fiscal responsibility into the city’s finances and allow voters to reject corporate welfare and massive tax hikes. We will continue to advocate for taxpayers throughout the state and work to bring structural reforms that reins in Nashville’s outrageous spending.”
Chancellor Russell T. Perkins, a Nashville judge, struck down the provisions of a referendum on the city’s taxes that was scheduled for July 27. The ruling invalidates the referendum and cancels the special election that was to be held, which would have allowed voters to determine the fate of the dramatic tax hike.
The referendum aimed to rescind Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s controversial 34 to 37 percent tax increase, which Cooper argued was to stabilize the city’s finances. If enacted by voters, the measure would have dramatically altered the budget of the city — immediately slashing $40 million.
AFP – TN members announced this month that they wanted volunteers to help them educate Davidson County residents about the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act.
“Years of fiscal mismanagement, waste, corporate welfare, and flush benefits for elected officials have resulted in $3.6 billion dollars of debt for the city of Nashville. As a result, Metro officials and Mayor Cooper forced a 34 percent property tax hike on the backs of families and small businesses across the city last year,” AFP members told supporters on their website.
“Despite the fiscal nightmare Nashville finds itself in, there is a way out of this mess and a solution that would bring some fiscal responsibility for years to come. The Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act (NTPA) could revert the property tax rate to what it was in 2019 and limit property tax rate increases to 3 percent every year without approval by a vote of the people. We need your help to place guardrails around Metro government’s outrageous spending habits and ensure fiscal stewardship of our tax dollars.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tori Venable” by Tori Venable.
“The Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act (NTPA) could revert the property tax rate to what it was in 2019 and limit property tax rate increases to 3 percent every year without approval by a vote of the people. We need your help to place guardrails around Metro government’s outrageous spending habits and ensure fiscal stewardship of our tax dollars.”
An excellent idea. If local governments are allowed to spend like ‘drunk sailors,’ eventually ‘a day of reckoning’ will come when for some of them the local government can no longer pay its obligations, then the State must ‘step-in’ and all of the citizens of the State are adversely affected—the frugal and the profligate. The State needs to act preemptively to prevent this. The way it is now, what incentive does a ‘big-spending left-wing’ local government like Metro Nashville have to be fiscally prudent when it is understood that ultimately, if necessary, the people of the entire State and their assets are available ‘to cover’ the ‘spendthrift’ local government’s otherwise unpayable financial obligations?
Lots of luck getting that Nashville bailout legislation through the General Assembly.
The State doesn’t “have” to do anything.
AFP-TN didn’t see this coming? The Pro-Marxist crowd was running fear mongering commercials back to back on all the channels, and these guys thought Dems were actually going to play by the rules.
It does get a little tiresome getting out flanked over and over again, because Republicans always assume Marxist will obey the will of the people. #VotetheBumsOut!
perkin’s finances should be investigated to see if he has any new ‘contributions’
Tori, Please get the legislative sponsors to support this act, we need to add local taxpayer approvals to pay and benefits increases for Metro Council Members who vote their selfs pay increases and life time health benefits. Why not propose capping Property taxes at the rate when a house is bought until it sells again then it goes to the current rate. Inflation is high and people of all ages and races are having a hard time affording housing. Metro citizens have had enough monetary mismanagement by our council members and Mayor.