Wheel Tax

Reflections on the Defeat of the Wheel Tax

Because the legislature has set up ground rules favorable to the wheel tax, the war against this outrageously regressive tax never ends for good, no matter how many battles we win. But make no mistake, the landslide 78-22% victory over it on August 5 was really significant. Although a majority of the county commissioners will no doubt forever come from the small class of substantial property owners whose narrow self-interest would be served by the highest possible wheel tax and lowest possible property tax, after the landslide it will be a long time before any of them will resume pretending that a majority of their own constituents really prefer a wheel tax.

The thing we first need to remember is that we would not even have had a chance to vote the tax down if Rep. George Fraley had been willing to go along with the original scheme to impose the wheel tax by private legislative act without a referendum. A November vote for his re-election would be appropriate for this reason alone.

Another important point is to be prepared with the facts if someone tries to blame the increase in your next property tax bill on the defeat of the wheel tax. The County Commission established the upcoming tax rate on June 21. Had the tax been ratified on Aug. 5, it couldn't have any impact on property taxes until Feb. 28, 2006.

Some citizens have expressed concern that the defeat of the tax might hurt the prospects for worthwhile county expenditures. The sponsors of the tax, however, earmarked it entirely for debt service funds already being adequately funded by the property tax. Had it passed, it couldn't have been used to pay anyone's salary or buy anyone's gas. And it could have promoted some highly unwholesome expenditures.

Finally, what hope, if any, can we derive from the landslide? Pessimists would argue that, if given a choice, voters will always vote against new taxes.   But don't forget that on three separate occasions, Franklin Countians voted in favor of the sales tax, and this makes about five times they have voted down a wheel tax.   And the margin this time was much greater than ever--large enough to make me start getting my hopes up for November.   I know that a lot of us become discouraged when so many lower-income Tennesseans choose ideology over self-interest any time a state income tax is debated.   Half of our counties have made a similar choice by imposing a wheel tax on themselves. But the August referendum was, for most Franklin Countians, as stark a choice between self-interest and social justice on one side and poor-bashing ideology on the other, and they overwhelmingly voted the right way.   When you think about this, give your fellow citizens the credit they deserve, and renew your efforts to persuade them about the other causes we care about.

Submitted by Henry Arnold