Rep. Stacey Campfield has listed some good cost saving nuggets here….
Show me the money!!!
Tonight the caucus got together and started to talk brass tacks on the budget. So far it is looking like we are going to be able to cut a lot of what the governor wants to spend on and keep from having to increase taxes as much.
The bond package is looking dead. That will save tens of millions in debt and interest. we will remove the tax increase implementation on cable boxes. The fonce tax increase is looking to be cut if not eliminated. It is already down to out of state owners and properties larger then quadplexes. The money the gov wanted to spend on pre K from the general fund will now be coming out of lottery reserve funds instead. We started to brainstorm on other ideas to save the state money. In no order some of my favorites are…
1. Sell, lease or close all the state golf courses that are not making money. $2.3 million. I hear one is planning a major renovation that will put it deeper in the red.
2. Stop construction on the party bunker until more money comes it. Some people suggested to just fill it in with dirt. Cant say I really against the idea much.
3. Cut funding for the arts and non profits and planned parenthood. About $8 million there. I like the arts but if it quality it will be able to stand on its own.
4. Cut funding for the study of earthquakes. that is over a million dollars in state money alone a year. They have been studying them for going on 30 years. I think we know enough for now.
5. Freeze all non emergency travel.
6. Opt out of the federal highway gas tax. It is optional and if we opt out and keep the gas tax at its current level the state will have more money then what it gets from the fed.
7. This one I must say is about my favorite. Just off the 10th amendment resolution several of us have been talking about how we give money to the fed we don’t need to give them. They are only entitled to money from products made in Tennessee but sold outside of Tennessee.
We currently also give the fed money on some things even if it is made and sold inside Tennessee. Many of us think because of the 9th and 10 amendment they aren’t entitled to it.
We are looking into the legality of saying a wide variety of items that the fed taxes should have the locally sold percent held back. Items such as alcohol (Can you say Jack Danial’s, George Dickle, etc.) Tobacco and guns that are manufactured and sold in Tennessee are just a few of the items we came up with off the top of our heads. If they are made and sold in Tennessee then why are we giving the fed money for it?
If we were to keep part of the money for just the percent that is sold in Tennessee we could be talking millions upon millions. The fed may squawk but I want to see them argue against the constitution.
Maybe this will provide the catalyst needed to trim some of the fatty pork from the state’s spending bovine buffet….
Fox 17 News ….2009 Pork Report-Scott Couch
2009 Tennessee Pork Tour
Solving the problems too important for government
Nashville – May 28th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Legislative Plaza, 300 6th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243
Chattanooga – June 3rd – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Location TBA
Knoxville – June 4th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Krutch Park, 504 Market Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
Johnson City – June 5th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Location TBA
Jackson – June 8th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Madison County Courthouse, 100 East Main Street, Jackson, TN 38301
Memphis – June 9th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Location TBA
Join us for barbeque, and the release of our Pork Report
Tennessee’s only comprehensive, detailed examination of government waste and pork barrel spending.
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan research and educational institute.
For more information on the events in your area, contact Carter Meadors at carter@tennesseepolicy.org or (615) 383-6431
*Free Admission*
Today, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research released our fourth annual edition of the Tennessee Pork Report. The Pork Report exposes $500 million in waste, fraud and abuse of tax dollars in Tennessee.
In total, the Pork Report uncovers nearly 100 examples of outrageous spending by state and local government, including $7.4 million to finance government-approved art, including a grant to an author of sex novels, and $482,572 to fund the “Barge to Nowhere,” a ferry that carries fewer than 17 passengers per day.
Other examples of questionable expenditures include:
• $9 million for the “Party Bunker,” an underground entertainment facility buried in the front yard of the Governor’s Mansion;
• $6.5 million to “eradicate” boll weevils, even though Tennessee’s cotton fields are already more than 99 percent free of the pest;
• $2.3 million to bailout 11 insolvent state-owned golf courses;
• $1 million to study mice genes; and
• $39,816 to pay for phone lines in state offices that went unused.
Please blog, Tweet, Facebook and get the word out about the Pork Report and help the Tennessee Center for Policy Research expose and put an end to wasteful government spending in Tennessee. To view the entire report, please visit:
http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/files/pdf/2009_Pork_Report.pdf
Also, if you’re near Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Johnson City, Jackson or Memphis, join us on our Pork Tour. You can pick up a copy of the Pork Report, enjoy a free BBQ lunch and meet our pig mascot. The tour starts tomorrow in Nashville from noon – 2pm at Legislative Plaza. For other cities, dates and locations, visit:
http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=1092
Thanks!
In Liberty-
Drew
Drew Johnson
President
Tennessee Center for Policy Research
PO Box 121331
Nashville, TN 37212
615.383.6431 (p)
615.383.6432 (f)
http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/
Terry Frank points to a 7 billion dollar financial scheme that some Republican lawmakers have cooked up in the shadows. Well the light is shining very brightly now.
Well good gosh almighty…thank you, News Channel 5 Investigative reporter Phil Williams for doing the job our own team should be doing!
NewsChannel 5 Investigates has uncovered details of an unusual financial scheme involving two of the men whom Republican lawmakers may soon put in charge of Tennessee’s money.
The $7 billion dollar plan involved — get this — taking life insurance out on some state retirees without their knowledge and cashing in when they died.
Our chief investigative reporter Phil Williams uncovered the documents that reveal the plan.
You can stop this mistake before it all happens. Call or email your legislator ASAP and tell them no way on these appointments!
