Tennessee — like the federal government — is having some money and job problems. Unlike the federal government, Tennessee can’t just run up more debt. So the organization called Tennesseans for Fair Taxation has offered some extensive proposals that it claims would cut some taxes and create more jobs, which it suggests would create more tax collections.
Here are some of the organization’s suggestions:
* Eliminate the state part of the sales tax on food — but leave the local option sales tax on food unaffected.
* Cut the state sales tax on non-food items from 7 percent to 5 percent.
* Eliminate the Tennessee “Hall Income Tax,” with “unearned” income that currently is subject to the Hall tax becoming subject to a new broad-based state income tax with generous exemptions, with a 3 percent rate on the first $30,000 over the exemptions, and a 6 percent tax on amounts over that.