Pork Report: Nashville Tax Increase Leads Annual Government Waste Report

Tennessee Lookout

By
Nate Rau
-

December 8, 2020

The 34 percent property tax increase by Metro Council and Mayor John Cooper led the Beacon Center’s annual Pork Report on government misspending.

The city said the tax increase was necessary to budget its budget, which lost revenue this spring because of the pandemic. Metro Council had pondered a tax increase for several budget cycles and the city had not raised its property taxes since 2012.

Although Metro’s tax rate remains lower than several surrounding counties, the increase topped the 15th annual Pork Report by the Beacon Center, a libertarian-leaning government watchdog nonprofit group.

The Beacon Center of Tennessee

“No changes to the unbelievably generous pension system, no spending cap, and of course no repeal of the uniquely egregious lifetime health insurance benefits for City Council members,” the Beacon Center argued in its report. “At a time when many people are coming to Nashville because of its low taxes, Mayor Cooper and the city council seem hell-bent on making sure the growth comes to a screeching halt so that we end up like another Chicago.”

Other government expenditures singled out by the report included the state spending $8 million on a no-bid contract with a sock manufacturer for face coverings and the city of Jackson giving away tax dollars to its minor league baseball team.

To read the entire report, click here.

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