First Half of the 110th Tennessee General Assembly is in the Books
This session was a mixed basket of some good news as well as some bad.
On the UP side,
K-12 Education was a winner in funding again this year including:
- $200 million to fund the Basic Education Program (BEP), including $100.4 million for teacher salaries; and
- 15 million for career and technology education equipment
Roads and Bridges are funded for the next few years, with $132 million bringing the Rainy Day fund to an all time high of $800 million.
No new debt – the second year in a row We are one of the lowest taxed States with the lowest debt owed to the government per person. So we could say, there is a huge surplus at the State.
Taxes have been lowered on food by 20% with a decrease in sales tax.
On the Down side –
Taxes will increase 6 cents on Gasoline and 10 cents on Diesel.
More fees were passed for car registration.
Simply there was a lot of pork in this budget. This budget was the largest in the history of our State. Our State government is growing faster than our population and faster than our average income in Tennessee.
Even with all the good in this budget, I believe this out of control increase and spending HAS TO STOP! I felt it was so bad, I did not vote for the budget.
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