Laid-off state employees won’t ever get chance to use the ballroom at the governor’s mansion

NASHVILLE, TN – Gov. Phil Bredesen’s announcement today that he will have to lay off a “serious” number of state employees as part of budget-cutting underscores the risk of Bredesen’s wishful-thinking approach to state spending.

“This year’s budget was based on a fiscal fantasy that the economic boom would never end, and Gov. Bredesen magnified that mistake by passing a budget that spent $723 million above the state constitution’s cap on the annual growth of state spending,” said Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party.

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Tennessee Democrat Party Serves as Mouthpiece for National Liberal Democrats in Spreading Falsehoods

NASHVILLE, TN - Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith today urged Tennessee broadcast media to refuse to air the Democratic National Committee’s inaccurate and malicious advertisement titled “100,” an ad that not only is false but also may represent an illegal campaign expenditure on the part of the Democrat party.

The Tennessee Democrat Party, which receives financial funding directly from the DNC, continues to walk in lock-step with the extreme liberals on the national level in promoting the slanderous and likely illegal advertisement on its website. That advertisement includes video of a terrorists’ roadside bomb attack on two American soldiers, footage not unlike that often used by Al Qaeda in its recruiting videos, as Democrats seek to exploit the attack to promote Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for president.

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Just as we predicted in December, the Bredesen administration’s “technical corrections” legislation includes tax increases

NASHVILLE, TN - Just as they did last year when they slapped a new tax on propane used in your backyard barbecue grill, Gov. Bredesen’s administration is planning to raise taxes again this year under the guise of making “technical corrections” to the state’s tax code.

Among the tax increases, er, “technical corrections,” to be sought by the Bredesen administration are provisions that will result in higher tax bills for some small businesses and small farmers.

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The Bredesen administration’s effort to reach further into your pocket by levying new taxes on digital products you purchase online is already under way. The administration began levying a sales tax on digital music downloads - songs for your iPod or Mp3 music player - on January 1, 2008.

But that may be only the beginning. Soon, Tennesseans may be required to pay new taxes on all sorts of digitally deliver products that are currently not taxed. According to an analysis by business tax law experts of draft legislation being prepared by Bredesen’s Revenue Department, the administration is looking at extending sales taxes to a long list of digitally-delivered products, a category which conceivably could include everything from subscriptions to online publications to software purchased online and delivered via downloading.

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