Business TN Interviews Kim McMillian

By Kleinheider Posted on May 15, 2008 at 10:49 am

See the entire interview with the prospective Gubernatorial candidate here:

BTN: Early media coverage of your announcement has focused on your 2002 vote in favor of an income tax for Tennessee. What is your response?

McMillan: In 2002, the General Assembly was faced with an untenable choice. Because of poor financial management and a TennCare system in shambles, among other things, the legislature had to choose between raising the already high sales tax to a level that would become one of the highest in the nation or voting for a reform plan that would lower the overall sales tax rate, remove the sales tax from grocery food, clothing, and non-prescription drugs, reduce business taxes, eliminate the Hall income tax and set a low flat-rate income tax that could not be raised without a super-majority vote of the General Assembly. Because I represented a border community where the neighboring county had no sales tax on food, lower overall sales taxes and lower business taxes, I made what I believe to be the right choice at the time. It’s not surprising the press is looking back at 2002 right now—that was a tough time to be in leadership in Tennessee. It’s important to get Tennessee talking about the future again—2010 and beyond—and that’s what my exploratory campaign is doing.

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