Tennessee - Pitting Environmentalists Against Small Business Advocates

[NashVegas]

Funds collected for environmental conservation could be used to fill an unexpected $15 million budget gap created because lawmakers objected to ending a tax exemption for some family businesses.

The proposal caused an immediate uproar from environmentalists, who urged members to contact lawmakers to persuade them against redirecting conservation funds toward the budget gap.

Wrangling over the exemption comes amid the frantic end-of-session budget setting, in which lawmakers must close a $315 million gap this year and revise the state's spending blueprint for next year to cut $468 million in spending, all before ending the session.

Over the last several days, legislators have been in back-room talks over an administration plan to end a tax exemption for businesses known as "family owned non-corporate entities."

Lawmakers have stripped the exemption from the administration's tax adjustments, a move supported by a powerful small-business association — but lawmakers must now come up with $15 million from somewhere else to fill the new tax gap.

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080516/NEWS0201/805160413

Bredesen is an ASS for trying to screw with small business here, but this is no solution, either.

[eilen]

1. What taxes are small businesses exempt from?

From what I have seen, the TN budget is beset by cost increases in healthcare and, perhaps energy although I'm not clear on the kind of relationship the state has with the TVA (which is, from what I understand, publicly traded).

The schools seem incredibly underfunded as well. They have a very high need for skilled knowledgeable teachers.

Much of my family live in Nashville, so I pay attention. My brother and sister pay a spare fraction of what I do in property taxes and they are not charged a separate school tax (which is included in my property tax bill). I have visited their public libraries and their collections are embarrassing. However, their access to higher education at the state colleges is better than higher tax states, provided you survive the public school system.

[blindpig]

2. First of all, define "small business"

The image that comes to mind is a 'mom&pop' operation, but when a small business may have over a hundred employees and receipts in the millions that doesn't look so small and vunerable to me.(I run a 3 person operation)It's those big 'small businesses who reap the bears share of these exemptions. Quite the racket. Nice job of framing, 'small business' vs those damned environmentalist, they're experts at this.