Against the Metro referendum: Leaders are misleading us

Published: Sunday, 08/21/05

By Nathan Moore

Despite an increase of $20 in the wheel tax and a 67-cent increase in the property tax, Mayor Bill Purcell and the majority of the Metro Council are now telling the people of Nashville more of their money is needed and that two significant tax increases in one budget cycle are simply not enough.

Of course, like the other tax increases, a “yes” vote for the sales tax referendum is being sold as a dire necessity. Not only is the tax increase being trumpeted “for the children,” but this time also for the well-being of the elderly. The mayor is operating on the premise that it is hard to say no to children, and I think even more so to say no to the elder members of our city.

In reality, saying no to more tax increases does not mean that you are working against the interests of the youngest and most senior of Nashville. Instead, you are only saying no to a mayor who wants to expand the reaches of metropolitan government with a general-fund tax increase and who refuses to acknowledge that per-pupil spending has been shown to have no correlation to scholastic results. The mayor does not even bother pretending to advocate for education reform or governmental efficiency — he just wants more of your money.

At a recent in-service, the mayor encouraged teachers to vote for the sales tax increase as if they were marching to an education Waterloo. Teachers who also coached were met with the veiled threat that pay for after- school work would be cut if the tax increase was not approved. This all after the mayor skeptically viewed the $570 million budget proposed by the school board in May as largely unsubstantiated.

Now, through the magic of time and politics, it has become a non-negotiable necessity, and the inattentive observer would think that the survival of the education establishment now rides on this sales tax increase.

Bill Purcell claims an interest in the burden of taxation on seniors. It is unbelievable that the mayor is advocating raising a regressive tax on seniors and characterizing it as a tax break. Increasing taxes on bread and milk while offering a misleading “Senior Tax Relief Calculator” to support his position, Purcell is doing no one a service. Worse, it is likely that such a scheme would be unconstitutional under state law, leaving seniors even worse off than before. It is political chicanery at its finest.

In the midst of the six satellite cities suing Metro for misappropriation of tax funds and a school board superintendent who does not know within a thousand how many teachers he has under his supervision, we have a mayor who has increased taxes more than any mayor in the history of metropolitan government. And, Purcell is still hungry for more.

Our role as citizens of this great city is not to cave to the whims of a fiscally drunk mayor but to do our best to keep him on the wagon. The only right vote Sept. 13 is a vote for Nashville and against the sales tax increase.

Published: Sunday, 08/21/05