Publisher’s Positions
City Of Knoxville Scores Very Low On Beacon Center’s City Freedom Index Study
The Beacon Center has released its latest City Freedom Index for Tennessee, which is very interesting. The City Freedom Index quantifies how local government has affected the daily lives of its citizenry.
Among those things, the Beacon Center rates Tennessee’s 30 most populous cities in four areas:
– Free Enterprise: How much does the city inhibit different types of businesses from thriving, whether through regulation, fees, or direct competition with the private sector?
– Property Rights: What costs or prohibitions does the city place on citizens’ use of their own property?
– Individual Liberty: What restrictions or requirements does the city place on constitutionally protected activities?
– Cost of Government: How much in taxes does the city collect from its residents, and what is its overall fiscal health?
Unfortunately, the City of Knoxville ranks among the bottom five in Tennessee. The rankings put Knoxville at 28 out of 30. The report cites Knoxville as having “considerable obstacles,” which it identifies as “its high cost of government and its regulations on private property rights and free enterprise.”
Over the past ten years, the City of Knoxville government has become bigger, more bloated and less responsive to the people it taxes. The administration of Mayor Indya Kincannon has particularly tried to embrace every woke remedy in the Santa Claus sack of goodies and tools. There is quite a lot of talk about “affordable” housing, “affordable” living and so forth. Yet the City of Knoxville’s solution to making things “affordable” for some is to increasingly reach its hands into the wallets and pocketbooks of others. The 40% increase in property taxes certainly didn’t make things more affordable for anyone. There are some not very bright people who don’t seem to realize a basic fact of economics: raising property taxes also raises mortgage payments and rents paid by renters. Now Kincannon and her minions on the city council are trying to convince residents of Knoxville to increase the already high sales tax on themselves. It’s very nearly 10% on every staple of life: food, clothing, toilet paper, baby formula, but that is not enough for the City of Knoxville. They need more money to spend, ostensibly to build housing for the “homeless.” So, if Knoxville is going to provide housing for every homeless person, are we going to outfit them with phones, free cable from KUB, free food, free medical care and free utilities? Will taxpayers be expected to provide housing for every homeless person who makes his or her way to Knoxville because they’ve heard the taxpayers are awfully nice and generous people? Where exactly does that end? Why are there no voices on the city council who speak up for working people? Who is the voice of the working people on the city council? There is none. Kincannon is certainly the poster child of a comfortable, White elitist, liberally sprinkled with guilt for her privilege while making out just fine, courtesy of the University of Tennessee, which, let me remind you, is also funded by the taxpayers.
The fact is, Knoxville is not presently working for everyone; no, not every voice is heard. Why is no one asking “Where do the giveaways end?”…and “Just how long and how much of the load are working people supposed to carry?” Is there an expectation on the part of the city government to drive elderly people out of their homes by continuously raising property taxes to provide free housing for a different group of people? Who among the council members has raised that issue? Who among the council members has regularly questioned why the city provides so little in the way of services, yet continues to spend more and more? Those voices are not heard. It’s irresponsible.
Yet you get what you vote for. The people of Knoxville have been too willing to ratify any amendment to the city charter proposed by the powers that be. That stopped when voters rejected Andrew Roberto’s anti-democratic attempt to circumvent state law by having every member of the Knoxville City Council elected city-wide. That has always diminished the voices of neighborhoods since the heyday of Jean Teague, Carlene Malone and Nick Della Volpe, who stood up for neighborhoods. There should be some members of the city council who speak for the existing neighborhoods instead of planning to raze them and replace them with towering brick buildings with cubicle apartments. There should be some members of the city council who are more interested in representing the people who elected them instead of rubber-stamping whatever the mayor dictates. There should be more city council members who are less interested in the latest Leftist violence interrupters playset and more interested in actually working to make the streets and neighborhoods safe for families. There should be more city council members who realize that an administration and government that encourages business, especially small business, should not only be diverse but should also create a healthy tax base, which obviates the need to constantly raise property taxes on honest working people.
In short, there are a lot of things the city council and the City of Knoxville need and an increase in the sales tax is not one of them.
Jeff Hagood, A Great Choice For TVA Board
Congratulations to Jeff Hagood on being nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority. TVA has meant much to our community over the years and while the role of the directors has been evolving and changing, Hagood has all the qualities needed to make a truly excellent member of the board. An attorney by profession, Jeff Hagood has very deep roots in our community and has always given back to Knoxville and Knox County through his civic involvement. Hagood has always tried to make ours a better community, and his nomination to serve on the TVA Board is a good choice made by Tennessee’s United States senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty. The Focus applauds the nomination of Jeff Hagood and hopes he will be swiftly confirmed by the Senate.
