Collegedale Mayor Katie LambHamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger is continuing his effort to get the unincorporated county a serving of the shared, state sales tax pie. But local city mayors are not welcoming him to the table.
Each year, the state returns a small portion of sales tax revenue – 4.6 percent of 6 percent of the 7 percent state sales tax – to municipalities based on population. The bigger the city, the larger the share.
That’s in addition to the local sales tax cities and counties already collect.
And while that’s a tiny percentage, Tennessee Department of Revenue reports show the state gave more than $270 million to cities statewide last fiscal year, with $17.7 million going to Hamilton County municipalities. But the counties’ coffers didn’t see a penny.
Estimated impact of sharing sales tax with the county
This chart shows how much shared sales tax each entity is expected to receive if the county is added to the list of recipients. Municipality // Estimated 2016 revenue // Estimated loss due to changes Chatanooga // $9.1 million // -$3.9 million East Ridge // $1.1 million // -$485,456 Soddy-Daisy // $692,579 // -$297,830 Red Bank // $624,577 // -$268,588 Collegedale // $506,050 // -$217,617 Signal Mountain // $446,866 // -$192,166 Walden // $100,207 // -$43,092 Lookout Mountain // $99,785 // -$42,910 Lakesite // $99,098 // -$42,615 Ridgeside // $21,752 //-$9,354 Unincorporated County // $5.5 million // $5.5 million Source: University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Assistance Service