Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said the Nashville Mayor’s $3.1 billion transit referendum is a “ripoff” of the taxpayers who are not given a proper voice in the media to express opposition to the transportation plan.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell unveiled his $3.1 billion transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said not only does Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit referendum appear to be illegal under the IMPROVE Act, but the transit plan’s overall vision of commuters suddenly switching over to public transport is “absurd.”
O’Connell unveiled his $3.1 billion transit plan, called “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last week, which would be funded through a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit plan, which is expected to be on the November ballot, is likely illegal under the IMPROVE Act, which passed the Tennessee General Assembly in 2017.
The 2017 IMPROVE Act, signed by former Governor Bill Haslam, permits local governments to seek a dedicated funding source via surcharge to support mass transportation projects through local referendum.
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A Tennessee bill would cap property tax increases in the state at 2 percent plus inflation each year and 6 percent plus inflation over a three-year span.
A higher percentage increase in property tax rates would require a referendum.
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Unlike his fellow Democrat and predecessor Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro hasn’t asked for tax increases as part of his first budget request. But the ranking Republican on the state House Appropriations Committee said on Wednesday that tax hikes likely await Pennsylvanians in a few years if lawmakers don’t pare back Shapiro’s spending proposal.
“We are facing massive structural deficits,” Representative Seth Grove (R-York) told reporters at the GOP Appropriations Committee Office in Harrisburg. “It’s something that is on our minds here in the General Assembly.”
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Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro asked the state General Assembly members on Tuesday to support his requested $45.9 billion budget, which would increase spending by approximately 4 percent over current outlays.
The governor insisted he based his plan for Fiscal Year 2023-24 on “conservative” revenue estimates. And he did include some provisions appealing to anti-taxers and free-marketers including nixing the state cell-phone tax, a move he estimates would save Pennsylvanians $124 million annually.
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Political organizers and lawmakers have successfully added a total of 10 measures to the November ballot. With the start of early voting less than a month away, Arizonans can expect to see a growing number of campaigns by public policy organizations and special interest groups vye for the support – or in some cases, rejection – of these proposals.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, official guest host Aaron Gulbransen welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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Friday morning on The Tennesse Star Report, official guest host Aaron Gulbransen welcomed Grover Norquist to comment upon Virginia Congressman Don Beyer’s legislation proposing a 1000 percent tax on assault-style weapons.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper says voter control over property tax rollbacks and increases is unconstitutional – and that voters are uninformed for supporting it. The mayor made this assertion during a Wednesday press conference explaining Metro’s new budget.
The mayor responded to reporter questions about what potential consequences would occur if the taxpayer referendum – the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act led by 4 Good Government – were to pass, and what the city would do about the potential financial blow. Cooper said that government officials have the ultimate control and final say on that matter. He noted that the 34 to 37 percent property tax increase last year “never really was that high.” Cooper said that community upset over the increase was no longer relevant because “that is so last year – that is so 2020.”
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U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) introduced legislation on Thursday to require a 3/5 supermajority vote to approve any tax increases.
“It’s Tax Week and the Biden Administration is hard at work raising your taxes and driving your jobs overseas,” the statement released by Green’s office said.
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Top American economist Larry Summers is sounding the alarm on rising U.S. inflation, saying that it is ticking up quicker than he originally expected.
Inflation is increasingly a more concerning and larger threat as consumer prices continue to rise, former National Economic Council Director and Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told Axios on Monday. He also criticized the Federal Reserve’s policies, suggesting that its decision to keep interest rates low could harm the economy.
“Data are pointing more towards higher inflation than I expected, and sooner,” Summers told Axios. “With more inflation signs sooner than I would have expected.”
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Metro Council Member-at-Large Steve Glover to the studio to weigh in on the overspending by Metro Government, the failures of Mayor Coopers State of Metro address issues, and recent Wall Street Journal piece.
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President Biden has just unveiled a new $2.3 trillion “infrastructure” plan, but a shockingly large portion of this bill is actually unrelated to infrastructure.
The plan includes massive subsidies for corporations as well as state and local governments, and comes right after the administration’s proposed increase in the corporate tax rate, which would raise the rate from 21 percent to 28 percent.
There’s $300 billion for manufacturing, $100 billion for electric utilities, $100 billion for broadband, $174 billion for electric vehicles, and a whole lot more. A significant portion of this spending is directed at subsidizing big corporations.
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Attorney Jim Roberts to the newsmakers line to give updates on where he stands in the fight against Metro Legal to get the proper number or petitions solidified to move forward with his referendum.
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Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Butch Eley announced Friday that tax revenues to the state for the month of February exceeded the budgeted estimates by $190.9 million, which puts the fiscal year surplus at $1.3 billion.
February revenues of $1.13 billion represent an 11.06 percent growth rate or $112.7 million more than February of last year.
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Nashville Metro Council agreed to create two new positions relating to racial diversity, equity and inclusion for “social justice” on Wednesday. If approved by Mayor John Cooper, these two hires could cost taxpayers over $250,000 a year.
Cooper has already agreed to the creation of these positions, along with Director of Finance Kevin Crumbo and Director of Human Resources Shannon Hall. The ordinance passed unanimously without discussion, after a unanimous vote from the budget committee.
Citizens opposing Mayor John Cooper’s property tax hike and war against bars and restaurants filed a petition to recall him and seven Metro Council members Monday.
Restore Nashville and Re-open Nashville, were among the groups that held the “Recall Mayor Cooper Petition Kickoff Rally” Monday at Public Square Nashville.
Stop Mayor Cooper was another group on Facebook organizing the rally.
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey gave his preliminary 2021 budget address Friday, in which he suggested how the city could improve its finances after restrictions put in place to slow the COVID-19 pandemic battered tax revenue.
Fifty-five percent of the city’s ongoing general fund revenue is gathered from sources other than property taxes, Frey said, sources he added that are projected to drop next year by $32.5 million.
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The Comer Barn was a “gift” to Sumner County from Rogers Group Inc. by way of a deed that had no funds involved, County Executive Anthony Holt announced to Sumner County Board of Commission members at several committee meetings in April 2016.
The old and picturesque stone horse barn, considered by many as a historic structure, is located on Highway 31 between Gallatin and Hendersonville on the property of one of Rogers Group’s quarries. Rogers Group is a road paver and builder, asphalt supplier and the largest privately-owned crushed stone, sand and gravel mix company in the U.S.
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Every U.S. state taxes fuel sales to fund road repairs.
Fully half of them, however, divert a portion of those taxes for other purposes. And Michigan, with a gas-tax diversion rate (GTDR) of 33.9 percent, is ranked with New Jersey as the third highest GTDR in the nation. Only New York (37.5 percent) and Rhode Island (37.1 percent) have higher GTDRs.
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A volunteer effort is seeking to protect taxpayers from reckless government spending by putting a Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act on the ballot in December.
The goal of this act is to force the government to be fiscally responsible through a series of amendments to the charter of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
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Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed guest Metro Councilman-at-Large Steve Glover to the newsmakers line.
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The City Council of Hermantown, a Duluth suburb, wants state lawmakers to approve a resolution to place a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot.
Council members this week passed a resolution 4-1 to consider increasing the city’s sales tax by 0.5 percent for 20 years.
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As budgets for the operation of Sumner County government and schools are set to be approved by the Board of County Commissioners at the regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Monday, June 17, the proposed spending plan will require an increase in the property tax rate. While the amount of the property tax increase has not yet been established, it is clear through discussions by several of the County Commissioners as well as the County Finance Director that an increase is imminent. A property tax increase would be the second for Sumner County in less than five years, with the last set into place in November of 2014. Both times, the property tax increases coincided with a property reappraisal which happens every five years in Sumner County. All of Tennessee’s 95 counties are on a four-, five-, or six-year reappraisal cycle. Upon the completion of the appraisal of all properties in a county, no matter the length of the reappraisal cycle, the county’s Assessor of Property determines and certifies a property tax rate that provides the same revenue for the County as was levied during the previous year. This is otherwise known as a certified tax rate (CTR) or revenue-neutral…
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Earlier this year, the Democrat super-majority in the California legislature passed a substantial gas tax hike. Though wildly unpopular with the relative few who took notice, Governor Jerry Brown signed it quickly, and put into motion an uptick in fuel costs to consumers estimated to raise a staggering $5 billion in new recurring revenues to help underwrite the Golden State’s bloated budget. Republicans, fueled by the outrage of every day Californians at the imminent tax increase, responded by launching a recall effort against newly-elected Assemblyman Josh Newman, whom they say was key to the passage of the tax hike. The Washington Free Beacon reports the effort, led by San Diego radio talker Carl DeMaio, is garnering vast support amongst California voters. The first step to recall a sitting elected official is to gather petitions signed by voters. The Beacon reports, “Republicans opposed to the most recent gas tax hike Newman backed submitted 84,988 signatures for the recall effort on Tuesday, nearly 20,000 more than the 63,592 the law requires.” DeMaio told The Beacon, “The overwhelming number of signatures we collected in just six weeks demonstrates a real rebellion is brewing in California against the out-of-control tax raisers in the state legislature.” He continued, “This recall…
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