We have a lot to be proud of in Tennessee. Our state economy is healthy and booming. New businesses continue to move in and bring high-quality jobs. Tennesseans enjoy the lowest state and local tax burden per capita, and we do all of this without a personal state income tax.
We stood strong and recovered much more quickly than most other states following an unprecedented economic downturn caused by the pandemic. When other states were facing huge budget deficits last year, the Volunteer State reduced state agency spending by more than $180 million. Tennesseans benefited from a tax savings of $415 million in sales-tax-holiday purchases.
Fiscal responsibility is how we do business in the Volunteer State. We pay our bills. We invest in ourselves. We plan for the future. We live within in our means.
Our state’s success didn’t happen overnight. Back in 2010, Tennessee was facing an unprecedented $1 billion deficit in our state budget resulting from dysfunctional fiscal policies that did not keep up with the times. We had to put state government in check.
We raised our expectations of ourselves, and we made some tough decisions. Tennessee grew stronger and is in a much better place today. Conservative fiscal policies work.