No Alternative?
Let's hope Frank Cagle is wrong this time. Cagle predicts the ultimate end-game of the income tax proponents is having the state lose the lawsuit filed by pro-income tax attorney Lewis Donelson, so the court will order a billion or so more dollars to equalize teacher pay statewide, prompting legislators to come back into session after the August primaries and pass the income tax.

Writing about the CATS budget, Cagle says the sponsors "have put it forward to say a solution exists short of an income tax and shutting down the government."

"It's not a good proposal. There is no such thing as a good proposal to get out of the mess that's been created over the last three years. Created by Gov. Don Sundquist, who hasn't submitted a balanced budget in three years. Created by Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and Sen. Bob Rochelle," says Cagle, predicting the leadership will find a way to kill it. "Sundquist, Naifeh and Rochelle are making sure that there is no alternative."