The other day I was at a monthly community gathering frequented by businesspeople and elected officials. There were nods and smiles all around when someone quoted a recent stat via Gov. Bill Lee. I think it was that Tennessee has the fastest-growing economy in the US—I’m not 100 percent sure, but that sounds about right. The internet is awash with Tennessee’s “business-friendly” stats.

US News and World Report ranked our economy 13^th in 2021. CNBC named us the 6^th top state for business. Lee was probably referring to a WalletHub analysis ranking us first for fastest-growing GDP between 2020 and 2021. The main driver of that top ranking? Growth in real estate, rental, and leasing.

I’ll take Lee’s WalletHub ranking and raise him one TurboTax report saying Tennessee has the nation’s highest average sales tax. That extra 9.75 percent on every store purchase hits struggling households hardest.

The US inflation rate peaked at 9 percent in June, and it’s still high. Imagine how our state government could mitigate the harm to working families by cutting the sales tax. But when the major corporations that do business in Tennessee contribute relatively little to state revenues—a quarter of the wealthiest ones pay zero state excise taxes—we don’t have that flexibility.

After all, someone has to pay the bills.

Tennessee is good at taking care of business at the expense of everything else, like working people, public education, and rural hospitals. Just look at our abysmal stats on poverty, bankruptcy, per-pupil funding, and chronic disease.

I’m not opposed to TCB. Tennesseans need good jobs. Our homegrown businesses and entrepreneurs need reasonable tax incentives. But we also need balance between what we, the taxpayers, give wealthy corporations and what they’re asked to give back.

After all, the whole point of policies that lure big business to Tennessee is to lift all boats—not just to let them move here, make money off us, and keep the profits, right?

Right?

Allison
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