Image Credit: tn.gov/education
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
The state of Tennessee spent 43% of the state sales tax on education last fiscal year and 56 cents of every dollar of state and local sales tax went to education in that same span.
Sales tax accounts for most of both state and local tax collections in Tennessee. The state collected $13.8 billion in sales tax of the $22.0 billion it collected. There was $4.3 billion in local sales tax collected out of nearly $4.7 billion in total collections over that same span, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue’s Annual Report.
Tennessee’s tax and fee collections were up from $20.9 billion in fiscal year 2022 while sales and use taxes increased from the $12.8 billion collected that year.
For every $1 of sales tax collected overall in the state, 56 cents goes to education with 28 cents to the state’s general fund and 16 cents to local governments.
That’s $7.8 billion of the total $18.1 billion going to education with $5.1 billion for Tennessee’s general fund, $4.2 billion for counties and $666.8 million going to the city it is collected in.
Another $104.1 million go to Tourist Development Zone tax captures, $18.4 million to the Border Region Tourist Development Zone near East Ridge and $1.2 million to a special zone.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
2 Responses
Get the federal government out of education and get back to reading, writing, math, history and science and we will save a fortune. It does not take a lot of money to educate a child. Home education can be done for peanuts and their end result is much better than our education in the public school system has been since the federal government got involved. So the solution to low academic achievement is not money. Our Constitution gives no authority to the federal government for education. So lets cut the ties and start truly educating our children using methods that worked many years ago. We do not need standards. Our children are not all the same and when you hold them up to a standard they are too young to obtain you destroy their love of learning. Just like whole word destroys a child’s love of reading (and this was by design folks). Before the federal government got its hands on education we had 98% literacy in this country. Today we are at less than 30%. Money is not the solution. Getting rid of all the useless nonsense and getting back to academics that work (which also means getting rid of Common Core (Commie Core as Charlotte Iserby called it) Schools need to stop being parents and doctors. Parents have the duty to take care of their children’s mental and physical welfare and if they don’t do the job up to someone else’s standards it is really none of anyone’s business. And we need to understand that prayer in school is NOT a violation of the Constitution. Our 1st Amendment only forbids the federal government from creating a national religion. Our founders never ever said it was to stop prayer in school. Stop being a lap dog and start standing up for our constitutional rights. “Just say no” works for a lot of things and it needs to start working in TN for all things unconstitutional. AND we MUST make teaching of the Constitution starting in Kindergarten through 12th grade. And it needs to be truthful accurate education on the Constitution. Most Americans have no clue about the Constitution or their rights. This has been an agenda. They have dumbed down people in order to control them. GET OUR EDUCATION OUT FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT they have no authority over any aspect of education. Same with land, water, air, environment, marriage, health and much more.
This is total bull, All this money spent and the children are no better off maybe worse. Until the Fed. gov. is told to bud out and these Liberal/WOKE Teachers unions are busted it will get worse. Let the Hard working Teachers do their job with parents input and those who don’t get rid of them. School is for learning not a daycare.