Image Credit: TN General Assembly & Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
On Thursday, April 24th, Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) signed a resolution encouraging Congress to enact the federal Fair Tax Act.
House Joint Resolution 17 (HJR0017), sponsored by Rep. Jake McCalmon (R-Franklin-District 63), urges “the United States Congress to repeal all taxes on income and enact a national retail sales tax as specified in H.R. 25, the Fair Tax Act of 2023.”
The text of HJR0017 acknowledges that the current income tax system:
- Penalizes marriage instead of rewarding it.
- Harms economic growth.
- Has reduced the standard of living for the general public.
- Impedes the international competitiveness of the U.S. industry.
- Reduces savings and investments in this country by taxing income multiple times.
- Slows the capital formation necessary for real wages to steadily increase.
- Lowers productivity.
- Imposes unacceptable and unnecessary administrative and compliance costs on individual and business taxpayers.
- Is unfair and inequitable.
- Unnecessarily intrudes upon the privacy and civil rights of United States citizens.
- Hides the true costs of government by embedding taxes in the costs of everything that Americans buy.
- Is not being complied with at satisfactory levels and “therefore, raises the tax burden on law-abiding citizens” and “impedes upward social mobility.”
The resolution passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives by a 69-22 vote back in March and a 26-6 vote in the Tennessee Senate earlier this month.
Once a bill or resolution receives passage from both chambers of the Tennessee legislature, it is sent to the governor’s desk where Gov. Lee has the option to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.
Gov. Lee chose to give his stamp of approval by signing HJR0017 on Thursday of last week.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. Adelia is The Tennessee Conservative’s on-site reporter for the Tennessee General Assembly. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
