NASHVILLE, TN - When Tennessee workers finish working Friday they can go home and eat dinner knowing that they’re done working to pay their taxes for the year.

April 11 is Tennessee’s Tax Freedom Day - the date each year on which the average Tennessee taxpayer has worked enough to pay their combined federal, state and local taxes - according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

National Tax Freedom Day is April 23rd, twelve days later than Tennessee’s - and Tennesseans have Republican principles of limited government and low taxation to thank for that extra bit of freedom from the tax man.

“Tennessee Republicans have long stood for keeping taxes as low as possible, and always will,” said Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith. “The income tax was defeated by Republican opposition and it is Republicans who routinely oppose big spending increases and the creation of new entitlement programs that accelerate the cost of state government beyond the ability of the average taxpayer to afford.

The Republican goal of limited government and low taxes is at odds with the fiscal approach of the state’s current Democratic leadership which has put Tennessee into its current fiscal crisis.

“Last year, state government had a $1.5 billion revenue surplus and yet Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen insisted on a $250 million tax increase on cigarettes - and on increasing government spending by $723 million more than allowed by the state constitution,” said Bill Hobbs, Communications Director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “The constitution limits spending growth to the rate of growth of the average Tennessean’s income for a good reason - so taxes won’t have to be raised to fund ever-larger government.

“Now the chickens are coming home to roost - despite last year’s $1.5 billion surplus and a $250 million tax increase, and despite continued revenue growth this year, Tennessee is facing a deficit that could top $400 million,” Hobbs said. “The Democrat’s standard fiscal approach of raising taxes and increasing spending faster than the growth of Tennesseans’ incomes has always led to fiscal crisis and often led to calls for higher taxes.”

The legislature has seen the retirement of numerous Democrats who voted for the income tax in May 2002, including this year’s retirement of two key allies of House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, who tried mightily to ram that income tax into law - Randy Rinks of Savannah and Rob Briley of Nashville. But other Democrats who support an income tax still remain in the House, including House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, and his foot-soldiers in the House, Stratton Bone of Lebanon, Mike Kernell of Memphis and Joe Armstrong of Knoxville.

“As Tennessee celebrates Tax Freedom Day tomorrow, Tennessee Republicans call on Democrats and Gov. Bredesen to work with Republicans to make Tax Freedom Day come even earlier next year and the years after that, by finding ways to limit the growth of spending and to reduce taxes, starting with the sales tax on food.”

The True Cost Of Government

According to the study from the Tax Foundation (www.taxfoundation.org), Americans, as a whole, work a significant number of days each year to pay for things other than government, but nothing else is so expensive. According to the Tax Foundation, Americans will work longer to pay for government (113 days) than they will for food, clothing and housing combined (108 days). In fact, Americans will work longer to afford federal taxes alone (74 days) than they will to afford housing (60 days). As a group, Americans will also work longer to pay state and local taxes than they will to pay for food. The average American spends 30.8 percent of their income paying taxes at all levels of government.

Tennesseans work an average of 101 days to pay all their taxes, the Tax Foundation calculates. Since 1970, Tax Freedom Day for Tennesseans has fluctuated from early to late April, coming as early as April 8th and as late as April 26th.

The good news for Tennesseans: Tax Freedom Day comes earlier for Tennesseans than for taxpayers in 43 other states.

“Republicans won’t be satisfied until we’re 50th on that list,” Smith said.