Kibosh Placed On Kelsey Anti-Income Tax Affirmation
Posted on April 1, 2009 at 12:18 pmRep. Brian Kelsey’s constitutional amendment to confirm that the income tax is unconstitutional will not see the light of day:
The subcommittee didn’t actually vote on the resolution, of course, not wishing to wind up on the record on this particular issue. Instead, its leaders craftily attached a $20,000 fiscal note by requiring newspaper publication notice to voters if the question ever makes it onto the ballot. Then the panel voted to delay considering the resolution until after the state budget, meaning it’ll most likely be quietly killed. Once the budget is adopted, the legislature’s spent all the money there is to spend. So even coming up with another $20,000 for Kelsey will be impossible.
Kelsey offered to raise private funds to pay for the legal notice but no one was listening
“Of course, this will never come out from behind the budget,” he told reporters. “They just showed exactly how they feel about this resolution. They’re for an income tax. It’s extremely frustrating that they won’t even allow us to go out and raise these funds privately so that we can put this matter to rest.”
SEE ALSO:
Dru Fuller
Sher
The Press Release That Writes Itself
Posted on February 27, 2009 at 4:35 pmThe TNGOP responds to efforts to revive talk of a state income tax:
“It is unthinkable that Democrats in DC and Nashville want to raise taxes during a recession, and all the more unthinkable that Tennessee Democrats are proposing to create a new and unconstitutional state income tax at a time when thousands of Tennesseans are losing their jobs,” said Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party.
“The Tennessee Democrat Party must feel emboldened to follow their leaders in Washington D.C. who are pushing for huge tax increases and mammoth increases in government spending and the national debt,” Smith said.
“Not satisfied with a pork-laden ‘emergency’ bill that will add more than $1 trillion to the national debt, President Barack Obama is now proposing $1 trillion in new taxes and $1.75 trillion in deficit spending that will have to be repaid with higher taxes in the future. And Democrats in Congress – including Tennessee’s John Tanner, Bart Gordon, Jim Cooper, Steve Cohen and Lincoln Davis – are all going along for the ride.”
TNDP Chairman Chip Forrester has a few words on the issue as well:
The Tennessee Dem. Party had no knowledge of any income tax bill being proposed. We would certainly not advocate anything of the sort. The comments by the Tennessee GOP are just another way to muddy the waters over the terrible economic crisis facing working men and women in an attempt to rally Republicans to oppose the president’s plan. It shows a willingness to throw working men and women under the bus when the stimulus package will provide jobs, allow people to save their homes, and allow small businesses to keep their doors open.
Republicans Want A Piece, Forrester Wants The Whole Thing
Posted on January 29, 2009 at 5:26 pmChip Forrester responds to Republican Party attacks on his past support for an income tax:
This is just a diversionary tactic of the Republican Party that has utterly failed to address the issue I raised on Saturday–why won’t they condemn the racist attacks they used during the 2008 election cycle on Presidnet Obama & Rep. Nathan Vaughn. They don’t have an answer to my question and now have created a smokescreen to divert the attention this issue has raised. Let them answer the question!
Seeing The Income Tax Tree Though The Forrester
Posted on January 25, 2009 at 6:20 pmThe Tennessee Republican Party welcomes the Tennessee Democratic Party’s new chair:
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Republican Party will continue to oppose creation of a state income tax even though the Tennessee Democrat Party has just elected a new chairman whose idea of “change” is the state taking more of it out of your pocket via an income tax.
In 1999, as a member of his party’s executive committee, new TNDP chairman Chip Forrester voted for a resolution calling for creation of a state income tax of 2.5 percent, to raise an additional $2 billion for a state government that had already proven unwilling to live within its means.
By contrast, the Tennessee Republican Party came out firmly and unequivocally against the proposed state income tax in 1999 - and has remained staunchly opposed to it.
“The Tennessee Democrat Party for years has tried to hide its pro-income tax stance, knowing that most Tennesseans, including many of their own voters, oppose the tax and believe the state’s budget problems are caused by too much spending, not by too little taxes,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party.
“By choosing as chairman someone who advocated for and voted for a state income tax, the leadership of the Tennessee Democrat Party has done the people of Tennessee a service: they have clarified for all to see that the Tennessee Democrat Party wants an income tax. When Chip Forrester and the liberal candidates he will recruit to run for the state legislature promise ‘change,’ what they really will be planning is a return to pushing ideas that Republicans and most Tennesseans rejected a decade ago.”
SEE ALSO:
Jeff Woods
R. Neal
The Pork Postman Makes Waves
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 7:25 amJackson Baker reports on the activities of Germantown’s ambitious young state legislator:
It is no secret that state representative Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) has further political ambitions — most likely, as a would-be successor to 7th District U.S. representative Marsha Blackburn if and when she decides to move on (or maybe even if she doesn’t).
Kelsey, who was first elected to the state House in 2004, is one of the new breed of take-no-prisoners conservatives who have dominated state Republican ranks in recent years. In 2007, when a temporary state surplus allowed the legislature’s Democratic leadership to distribute excess funds to members as community-improvement grants, Kelsey called it all “pork,” put a few slabs of bacon into an envelope, and made a show of returning his share to House speaker Jimmy Naifeh.
“Brash” is a word that has often been used to describe Kelsey — by some of his Republican colleagues as well as by aggrieved Democrats. Bashful he’s not.
permalink | Comment on this post
Mark Brown Defends The Message
Posted on November 20, 2008 at 11:01 amSenate Democratic Caucus Political Director Mark Brown looks back at the strategies of campaign 2008 with Jackson Baker:
Brown also takes exception to my having noted that official Democratic Party statements attempted misleadingly to saddle write-in candidate Rosalind Kurita, a Democrat who had significant Republican help, with support for a state income tax solely because she was financially backed by former Republican governor Don Sundquist. (For the record, Kurita was resolutely opposed to Sundquist’s income tax proposals as a senator.)
Brown’s response to that is something of a nolo contendere. After acknowledging that “we hit Kurita on Sundquist because Sundquist gave her campaign contributions,” he amplifies on that later by claiming that Republicans often have made unfairly sweeping allegations concerning Democratic support for an income tax (a point well taken), so that “[w]e pushed back by pointing out that Republicans were taking campaign contributions from Don Sundquist, the father of the state income tax; however, other than press releases and a few automated calls, this was never a major piece of our messaging.”
I’ll let that statement speak for itself.
permalink | Comment on this post
Easy For You To Say
Posted on November 16, 2008 at 10:03 pmBen Vos accuses the anti-income tax soon-to-be speaker of the state house of having a geographic bias against tax reform:
With the Republicans taking over the state House by a narrow one-vote margin, the likely House Speaker is GOP House member Jason Mumpower, who hails from Bristol, TN (on the TN/VA border). Mumpower knows that the residents will gladly live in Tennessee, income-tax-free, and travel across the border for cheaper goods in Virginia.
It’s the best of both worlds.
permalink | Comment on this post
It Is Quite Hot Out There
Posted on July 29, 2008 at 11:36 amThe anti-Mike Faulk shill blogger is at it again publicizing Justin Wilson’s donation to the Faulk campaign as well as spreading rumors that the 4th District Republican seeking to unseat incumbent Mike Williams was campaigning in shorts:
Eyewitness reports state that Mike Faulk was campaigning in a polo shirt and bermuda shorts over the weekend. Did he leave his coveralls behind? We’ve never ever heard of a candidate campaigning in his shorts before. Coveralls, yes. We have trouble believing he would campaign in bermuda shorts. But then Faulk may not have had time to change when he left the country club or his hideaway cabin. Got pictures, anyone?
Recent Comments
Hurtt’s analogy isn’t quite it. As an elected officer, Matt was part of inviting Wamp...
Hurtt, No use in replying to these people. It’s sad to say that in your limited life...
Credo, like I said - If you have hate in your heart, LET IT OUT! It makes you feel...
Let’s make it REAL simple for you people who can’t draw the same conclusions...
Can’t we all get along?...
There are parts of China I would very much like to visit. If this ever...
Matt Hurtt’s claims are ridiculous. Palin serving as governor for a couple of years...
I am happy that common sense as well as the rule of law has won the day....
To thine own self be true.
I think its quite interesting that what matthew sees as ruin, the majority of...