On November 4 you will have a chance to vote to put the final nail in the coffin of the income tax in Tennessee. Please vote “Yes” on an amendment I sponsored to the state constitution: Amendment 3.
As a law student in 2001, I was at the state capitol the day that income tax protesters threw a rock through the window of the capitol. It was then that I decided Tennessee should never have to go through another income tax battle.
In 2002 Tennessee came only five votes short of passing an income tax through the state House. As recently as 2006 the Memphis mayor was proposing a local income tax. In 2010, eight state legislators proposed an income tax.
While I and others think an income tax is already illegal, our last six attorneys general have written that an income tax could be legal in Tennessee. It is time to end this confusion once and for all.
Not having an income tax has already brought jobs to Tennessee. Being able to tell future employers that we will never have an income tax will bring even more jobs. Not having an income tax also promotes fiscal responsibility.
It has helped Tennessee avoid bankruptcy and defaults like Illinois and California have experienced. I need your support because this same constitutional amendment failed on the ballot in New Hampshire just two years ago. Also, skipping the amendment on the ballot counts as a “no” vote under our laws.
Please tell your friends and neighbors about the opportunity we have to ban the income tax this November. Vote “Yes on 3” to keep Tennessee “Income Tax Free.”
Written by Brian Kelsey, who is serving his 9th year in the Tennessee legislature. He is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A Republican state Senator, he represents Cordova, East Memphis, and Germantown. Contact him via his website’s contact page at http://www.briankelsey.org/contact.php.
