On Point
Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, nails it in comments published in the May 9 Tennessean. Burchett remarks that the forecast of sluggish revenue growth next fiscal year still doesn't mean we need a state income tax. Burchett correctly fingers the real cause of the state's budget shortfalls: its profligate spending during the 1990s revenue boom.

''We should have been storing some of our wheat at harvest time so during a low harvest we would have resources,'' Burchett said.

He's right. But the Sundquist administration has made a habit of spending not just every dollar of expected revenue, but every unexpected dollar of surplus revenue too, while also raiding a variety of reserve funds in order to pay for its annual billion-dollar budget increases. Remember - when Sundquist took office, the state budget was a mere $13 billion. Just years ago, it was $16.4 billion. Now, Sundquist has laid a $20.4 billion Faberge egg of a budget on the table, and the truth is the people of Tennessee can't afford it.

The truth also is, however, that Don Sundquist doesn't care if you can't afford it. Jimmy Naifeh doesn't care if you can't afford it. Sen. Bob Rochelle doesn't care if you can't afford it. And not one of them cares that what they are trying to do violates the state constitution and three unanimous state Supreme Court rulings.

They only care about imposing a 4.5% tax on your income..

Why? It's just as Sundquist himself once said: the purpose of an income tax is to fund "the endless expansion of government."

... For more on the latest revenue forecasts, see the next two posts.