TN Republicans use progressive tactics to push a tax increase simply by redefining words.

Many of us understand that we are facing a complete reshaping of society, an agenda long at play by the UN and global elites. And unfortunately for us here in Tennessee, our supermajority Republican legislature gives us as citizens no respite from the effects of this agenda. In fact, we are implementing that agenda here.

Governor Bill Lee has made a concerted effort to bank the future of our economic wellbeing on incentivizing companies in the electric vehicle space to come to Tennessee, all in the name of job creation, of course. We gave $1 Billion of our tax dollars to Ford to subsidize their largest EV plant in the world. Battery plants are moving to Tennessee. Battery part manufacturers are moving to Tennessee. And the nation’s largest lithium refiner is coming to Tennessee, just north of Chattanooga.

Yet, the very industry that is providing the backdrop for a decrease in gas tax revenues will also precipitate the necessity for Tennessee to employ public-private partnerships (P3s) to build roads and maintain our future infrastructure. Is it only interesting to me that we are subsidizing the growth of an industry in our state with our tax dollars that is in turn causing us to now pay user fees to use our roads?

The conversation of how to pay for roads in Tennessee is not a new one. Bill Haslam shoved the IMPROVE Act of 2017 down our throats despite the outcry from conservatives across the state who rejected the idea of increasing the gas tax. And it wasn’t just about a tax increase. It was that it was a tax increase in the midst of a surplus and already growing state revenues. So, the question was, where is all of the extra money that we already have being spent?

And frankly, the same is true today. From my standpoint, user fees for roads are tolls. The Governor and everyone else can call it what they want. They can choose to redefine words so that it is easier for you to swallow as they sell you a tax hike. Because the truth of the matter is, user fees are tolls. And tolls are taxes. And just like with 2017’s IMPROVE Act, these tax hikes are going to disproportionately affect people with lower levels of disposable income. Frankly, it is going to affect all of us.

Here are some statements directly from legislators as they were debating the gas tax increase in 2017.

3/21/17 – House Transportation Committee

Bo Mitchell (D) proposed an amendment where instead of dropping the sales tax on groceries on 1%, that the state could completely eliminate the sales tax on groceries by increasing the tax on tobacco products, bringing the price of a pack of cigarettes up to the national average. That measure was by Republicans, (2) Ayes and (15) Noes.

Jason Zachary (R) voiced support for an amendment that would simply reallocate already existing funds to compensate for the needed $300 Million for infrastructure. He states that this must be possible due to the fact that at the time, the state was operating on a nearly $2 Billion surplus. He goes on to suggest, “…it calls into question, do we have a funding problem or do we actually have a spending problem? And I would make the point yet again today that we have a spending problem, and a priority in that spending.”

Courtney Rogers (R) supported the same amendment because it was more dependent on vehicle sales and not the gas tax which is dependent on the use of fuels. She states, “The gas tax is a slowly declining tax and this is not dependent upon that.”

In continuing to voice support for Rep. Dale Carr’s proposed amendment, Timothy Hill (R) states, “You made the point that it uses existing resources…It’s fair to say that through your amendment you’ve found a way to not raise taxes, take care of our locals, divert existing resources…people have to drive to work…this does not raise taxes and it’s a way to use existing resources.”

Jerry Sexton (R) polled his district and found that 70% of his voters were against the IMPROVE Act and raising the gas tax and stated in committee, “I want to say to all you good Republicans that are going to vote for this tax increase that we have done what we said we would not do and that’s raise taxes.”

Terri Lynn Weaver (R) stated, “I’ve been asked to do a task that is a lot harder than adding a tax, and this is to use what we have already here.” Rep. Weaver goes to say that she had also done a poll in her district and found that 75% of voters did not support raising the gas tax.

A bit later in the committee hearing, Rep. Jerry Sexton comes back to make that point that over the past few years, the budget is always increased by about $1 Billion per year and no one ever voices concern about a lapse in revenue or an economic downturn. “It’s only when we have a little over $300 Million that we’re going to move from the general fund to keep from raising taxes that this question seems to keep coming up.”

After all of the talk about the need to not raise taxes and use already exiting funds, the amendment failed in committee (8) Ayes and (10) Noes.

There was testimony given a bit later in the hearing by the administration that sold the idea that by raising the gas taxes but decreasing the grocery sales tax by 1% that the average family in Tennessee would see a NET decrease in taxes. Rep. Bill Sanderson asked for clarification as to how much families would actually save on average by this NET “tax cut.” The answer was $2.00 to $4.00 per month. (And yes, you are reading that correctly.)

After a bit of protest on moving forward with a vote on the bill in committee, a vote on the bill was forced by Chairman Barry Doss and the bill (an increase in the gas tax) passed out of committee with (11) Ayes and (7) Noes.

4/19/17 – Senate Floor

Statement from Sen. Kerry Roberts (R): “We have done a fantastic job of cutting taxes here in Tennessee. It confounds me that we would then turn around and raise taxes in Tennessee when we’ve had such a track record and such a success of decreasing taxes…Whereas it may be true that this could be construed as the largest tax cut in Tennessee history, I believe it can also be construed as the largest tax increase on the poor people of Tennessee…We have a thriving payday industry in Tennessee. That should tell us that there are people in this state where $5, $10, $100 matters…This affects those people. And you know what? They don’t have a lobbyist to speak for them. So that is why I object to this. I am in favor of every single tax cut in this bill. But I am opposed, in the presence of surpluses, that we increase taxes.”

Statement from Sen. Mae Beavers (R): “I think there is one thing that all of us can agree on is that we need more money for roads in Tennessee. But with a surplus, I think there are many of us who would disagree in the way that we’re getting there. You say that we will have a 20% cut in food, the truth is that it is going to drive up the cost of food and other goods because of the increase in the diesel tax and the cost to get them to market…The franchise and excise tax will not affect most of us. The Hall income tax reduction will not affect most of us. However, the gas tax will affect all of us. Some more than others…Do you vote for an increase in taxes when you have a surplus?”

Statement from Sen. Dolores Gresham (R): “I’m a conservative Republican. I’m not going to tax the people. It’s just simply not in my DNA, especially in the presence of a surplus…It came to me that although we had talked many times about ‘It matters who governs,’ indeed perhaps it doesn’t matter who governs.”

And as I look back at some of these statements, it floors me that the bill passed anyway. We raised the gas tax. Governor Haslam just wasn’t going to have it any other way. So, like good little Republican legislators, they obeyed, like sheep.

Yet, after raising taxes and fixing the problem, Governor Bill Lee, six years later in his State of the State address says that we are $26 Billion behind on funding our roads and infrastructure. One should be asking, how did we get here? Where did all of the budget surplus and additional gas tax revenue go?

Even back when they were discussing this tax increase in 2017, the legislature acknowledged that the state was operating on a roughly $1 Billion surplus annually. And in the last 3 or so years, that surplus has been about $2-$3 Billion annually. And it is my understanding that this year, we are on track for a $5 Billion surplus in the budget. Add to that our rainy-day fund of another $2 Billion, the highest it’s been in Tennessee’s history.

So, I echo the sentiments of these legislators from 2017. How are we considering “choice lanes” (toll roads) and “user fees” (tolls) in an environment where we are experiencing so much of a budget surplus in tax revenues? Where is all of the extra money going?

Perhaps we should slow down on the tax incentives and corporate welfare in the name of economic development and use those tax dollars being collected from people that already live here to build roads for the same people who paid the taxes.

But that apparently is not good enough for Bill Lee. Why use money that we already have to build roads, when we can give that money away to more corporations and simply make people pay more for roads if they want to use them?

Almost everyone who has lived in a state with toll roads, choice lanes, express lanes, paid HOV lanes, will tell you that over time, road conditions continue to deteriorate, the fees (tolls) become more expensive over time, and public-private partnerships do not benefit the taxpayer, they benefit the corporations who are given massive contracts to do work that you’ve already paid the state to do.

The Governor’s Transportation Modernization Act is anything but conservative. It is a complete mismanagement of funds and a lie being sold to the public. Frankly, if our cities are growing too fast to keep up with infrastructure needs, perhaps the Bill Lee administration should stop artificially inflating that growth with incentives paid for by our tax dollars.