Widening Economic Divide
The cost of living has exploded over the last 40 years, but wages have remained stagnant. Cost of Tennessean's basic needs such as housing, healthcare, education, and transportation has exponentially increased and our elected officials are too busy giving corporate tax breaks to FedEx, GE, and Amazon.
The Tennessee GOP has kept corporate taxes low while restricting federal and state funding for much-needed social programs like SNAP; they have intentionally underfunded state agencies like TDEC, DCS, TDOC, and our public schools. They continually promise meaningful raises for public school teachers only to scrap those plans, claiming that there are no funds for raises, despite hoarding over $7 billion in their secretive “rainy day fund.”
The tourism industry is a boon to the State of Tennessee; let's use that to help working families. Tennessee is one of only 13 states with a grocery tax, instead of giving large corporations tax breaks, let's give folks just trying to meet their family's basic needs a tax break!