November 30, 2006

DO SHELBY COUNTY TAXPAYERS WANT TO TAKE BACK THE POWER FROM POLITICIANS?

Recently watchdog talked with Ben Cunningham about his spectacular success in Davidson County. If you are not aware of what he has accomplished, he successfully got a petition signed with the requisite number of registered voter signatures (15%) and got a referendum on the ballot. The referendum said the following.

“DAVIDSON COUNTY REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES CANNOT BE INCREASED WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF VOTERS IN A REFERENDUM”

Click here to go to tntaxrevolt website

It passed with 77% of the vote. His explanation of the success of this movement was that the voters were sick and tired of politicians and their hypocrisy and that the only way to get them to control spending was to put a control on their ability to raise property taxes, their main source of tax money.

We have an even worse situation here in Memphis and Shelby County. In Memphis there is a legal question if such a referendum would be legal and we are checking on this and hope to have an answer soon. But there is no question that Shelby County taxpayers can call for such a question under the County Charter. It would not be easy. The petition would require about 100,000 signatures of registered voters and that is a lot. The local establishment and politicians would fight it tooth and nail. But the county’s debt is over 2 billion dollars and climbing and they are regularly borrowing just to pay the interest. The property taxes in Fayette County from 1997 to 2006 has gone down 21%, in Tipton County they have gone down 14%. In Shelby County they have gone up 29%. It is obvious that taxpayers are leaving Shelby County and going to Tipton, Fayette and Desoto counties.

Let me know if you are interested in helping out in this effort. It must be a grassroots effort with thousands involved if it is to succeed. Give me your thoughts and if you are willing to help, write a response on this blog.