Billboard Unfair to Bredesen
The Tennessee Republican Party should immediately take down the billboard it erected in Nashville that lies about a comment Democrat Phil Bredesen made three years ago about the income tax. Bredesen, a leading candidate for governor, did not say an income tax is a "better" way to raise revenue than a sales tax, as the billboard alleges.

Here is what Bredesen said in an interview with The Tennessean in August 1979, republished today as part of their coverage of the billboard dispute: ''I think an income tax for raising the same amount of money is a fairer way to do it than a property or a sales tax."

Bredesen, who has taken a strong and unwavering position against the income tax during this current campaign, is being accused of being secretly in favor of an income tax. But a close examination of his statement doesn't support that view. Bredesen was discussing the state's budget situation, in which Gov. Sundquist was pushing for an income tax not only to fill a small projected shortfall but also to raise hundreds of millions of dollars of additional revenue and greatly expand government spending. Bredesen's comments were partially intended to explain that if the tax code was reformed the change should be revenue-neutral. But he did use the word "fairer" in conjunction with the income tax.

It is clear from the context that Bredesen was not endorsing an income tax. And he is right - theoretically speaking, a properly designed income tax would be fairer than the state's current patchwork sales tax with all of its special-interest exemptions. A low flat income tax that applied to the first dollar of income, had no exemptions or deductions - and included a strong cap on the tax rate and the growth of government spending - would be a fairer tax code than the one we have now. I outlined just such a plan in two columns published August 23, and August 30, by the Nashville City Paper. (See also: this item, which provides more information and links to a valuable study on the positive effect a hard cap on spending and tax rates has had on Colorado's fiscal health.)

But if legislators tried to pass such a reform plan, even one that reduced revenue, I would still oppose it on the grounds that it wasn't constitutional. If such a plan is ever proposed, it must be done so via a constitutional convention or constitutional amendment.

Bredesen is right when he says that, theoretically, an income tax can be fairer than the sales tax. The billboard should come down.