Yesterday in this space we discussed Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam's reservations with regard to Republican plans in the Tennessee House and Tennessee Senate to fashion bills which would reduce or eliminate the State's inheritance tax (i.e. the "death tax"), as well as the "Hall income tax" on dividends. The Governor admits that these taxes are retarding Tennessee's economic growth, but says that now is not the time to cut them. According to Haslam, he doesn't know what the State will replace the lost revenue from the Hall tax and the death tax with. Yesterday, this writer pointed out that the excuse given by Haslam has been the excuse of every Governor or General Assembly to avoid cutting these unpopular acts of State-sponsored robbery. If Tennessee does not eliminate the death tax and the arguable unconstitutional Hall income tax now, the State is unlikely ever to do so.
Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) and Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) both say that they are going to press ahead with respective House and Senate plans to cut and/or eliminate the death tax and the Hall income tax on dividends. Speaker Harwell told the Associated Press's Erik Schelzig that " House Republicans have wanted to address this issue [the inheritance tax] for a long time." Indeed, many House Republicans campaigned and were elected throughout Tennessee on platforms that included abolishing the death tax, and Republicans in both Houses of the General Assembly have the numbers to do it is they but stand together. As with any other Governor in Tennessee, a Haslam veto is a worthless one if a simple majority in both Houses chooses to override it.
The Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor are thus far to be commended for sticking to their guns on the taxing powers of the State.
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