Image Credit: Knox County Election Commission & Canva
Tennessee Conservative News Staff –
Knoxville residents were at the polls on Tuesday to elect five new city council members, as well as to determine whether the city’s sales tax would be increased.
Sales Tax Increase Results
In the end, a proposed sales tax increase of half a percent – bringing the tax from 2.25% to 2.75% – was not approved by Knoxville voters.
• For: 9,546 votes (38.45%)
• Against: 15,284 votes (61.55%)
City officials claimed the tax increase would provide a revenue increase of $47 million per year for work on parks, greenways, roads, and affordable housing.
Opponents pointed out, however, that things could end differently if Knox County also opted to raise their tax. Both the city and county are legally required to give most of their revenues to the school system so long as their tax rates are the same.
City Council Election Results
District 1
- Karen Adams: 1,933 (W)
- Becky Jones: 948
District 2
- Nathan Honeycutt: 3,662 (W)
- Melody Watts: 2,289
District 3
- Doug Lloyd: 2,147 (W)
- Frank Ramey: 1,928
District 4
- Matthew DeBardelaben: 3,530 (W)
- Jeff Talman: 2,556
District 6
- Denzel Grant: 1,685 (W)
- Stan Johnson: 1,095
One Response
According to the Knoxville’s Fiscal year in review, sales tax revenue is up over 30% in the last three years. Property tax is up 18% in the same 3 years, even though the levy rate is down 12%. So where is the money going, we should have had a ballot initiative to cut the sales tax by .25 or lower it on groceries not increase it by .5