McMillan Blames Past Income Tax Support On Geography

By Kleinheider Posted on April 29, 2008 at 8:49 am

Exploratory Gubernatorial candidate Kim McMillan explains that her support for a state income tax in the past was based on the location of her district and that she would not support one today because we have the “type of tax revenue system that doesn’t need that particular type of environment’:

McMillan, who filed papers Monday creating an exploratory committee to seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2010, said she supported the income tax because she was following the will of her constituents, who live on the border with Kentucky, which has no sales tax on food.

“When I had to choose between a plan that would allow us to remove the sales tax on food and make us competitive with Kentucky or increase the overall sales tax with no benefit to anybody, I think that was the choice that I took at that time in line with what the constituents of the 67th District told me that they thought was more appropriate,” McMillan said.

McMillan’s entrance into the Democratic race for governor will provide the first test of how Tennesseans react to a statewide candidate who openly pushed for a state income tax.

Since the great fight over a state income tax from 1999 to 2002, no candidate has run for statewide office who openly advocated for the income tax.

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Tags: 2010 Governor's race, Kim McMillan, Lincoln Davis, State income tax