House of Representatives State of Tennessee: Bruce Griffey

Bruce Griffey
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
75th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
House of COMMITTEES:
Representatives
TRANSPORTATION
Vice Chair Transportation Committee
INFRASTRUCTURE
JUDICIARY
LEGISLATIVE ADDRESS: CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS &
Suite 578 Cordell Hull Bldg. SENTENCING
State of Tennessee
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37243-0106
PHONE: (615) 741-6804 DISTRICT ADDRESS:
[email protected] 140 PAUL DRIVE
PARIS, TN 38242
NASHVILLE
May 19, 2020
To the Editor:
How To Solve Tennessee’s Covid19 (a.k.a. Chinese virus) Budget Problem.
Simple. Pass HB 1706 / SB 2075 – a bill that I drafted and filed in the House and that Senator
Mark Pody agreed to sponsor in the Senate.
In case you haven’t heard folks, Tennessee is in a serious budget jam. The month of April was
devastating to Tennessee due to the Governor’s Executive Orders shutting down small businesses
and the economy and putting the self-employed out of work. In April, total revenue collections for
Tennessee were roughly $1.3 Billion. This is an under-collection of approximately $693.8 Million
relative to what the state budgeted! As many are aware, I have taken issue with constitutionality of
the Governor’s Orders as well as with the lack of action by the General Assembly to challenge the
Orders and to go back into session immediately to address the myriad of problems highlighted by
Covid 19. One such problem is solving Tennessee’s budget woes with the least amount of pain
involved for Tennesseans. Here’s the solution…Pass HB 1706! (SB 2075 – Sen. Mark Pody).
What is HB 1706 and what does it do? It is simple. HB1706 extends Tennessee’s state and local
sales tax (7% for the state, up to 2.5% for the locals) to foreign money transfers. As proposed, it
would only apply to persons making money transfers from Tennessee to foreign countries if the
person is without a social security number or tax payer identification number (i.e. illegal aliens).
How can that possibly solve our budget problems? According to the March 5, 2020 “Fiscal Note”
issued by the General Assembly’s Fiscal Review Committee, it is estimated that HB1706 will
generate over $370 million of new tax revenue dollars in the first half year of implementation and
over $742 million each following year!
I initially drafted the bill so that the revenue would be spilt up into four pots of money: 25% to
increase K-12 teacher compensation; 25% to increase pay to law enforcement officers; 25% to go to
local counties and/or metropolitan governments for infrastructure improvements and economic
development; and finally 25% to the State General Fund. Due to our current budget crisis, it seems
appropriate to amend the language of the bill on a temporary basis so that the State’s General Fund
would get the revenue at least until we get out of our budget hole.
You might wonder how applying state and local sales tax to foreign money transfers by illegals will
generate that kind of money. What many Tennesseans probably don’t know is that in 2018 (the
most recent year for which the state has numbers) there were $14.5 BILLION in money transfers
from Tennessee to foreign countries. This is documented in a September 23, 2019 letter from the
Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions. Moreover, most Tennesseans may not realize the
fiscal burden that illegal immigration has on Tennessee every year. Illegal aliens impose additional
costs on our educational systems, on our law enforcement agencies and on our healthcare systems,
among other things. In 2017, illegal immigration cost Tennessee taxpayers $793 Million – an
average cost of $5,877 to Tennesseans per illegal alien in the state, and this number has been and will
continue to be on the rise. In addition, the Tennessee economy loses $14.5 billion every year to
foreign remittances “money transfers”. That’s cash that permanently leaves Tennessee - never to
return!
Why should H1706 only apply to persons in Tennessee without a social security number or tax
payer identification number? Well, I am the last person in the State Legislature that wants to
increase taxes on Tennesseans who already have to pay payroll taxes such as FICA (that’s the social
security and Medicare taxes combined around 15%), FUTA (that’s the federal unemployment taxes
around 6%), and federal income tax withholdings. Moreover, if a person owns property, he/she is
also paying property taxes. If you have a social security number or a tax payer identification number,
you are a part of the US and Tennessee taxpayer system. You are already paying payroll taxes,
federal withholding taxes and possibly property taxes. That’s why HB1706 is not designed to apply
to US taxpayers. It is designed to apply to folks who are living and/or working in Tennessee, but
who are not part of our state or federal taxpayer system.
I, for one, am willing to require those persons living and/or working and making money in
Tennessee, who are not in the state or federal taxpayer system and are not contributing like the rest
of us and have decided to use Western Union or Moneygram to transfer their cash to a foreign
country and thereby permanently remove that money from Tennessee’s economy, to have to “kick–
in” their part by paying sales tax on their money transfers. I submit it is only fair.
Unfortunately, early this past March, HB 1706 died in the House Banking Subcommittee when two
Democrats voted against it (no surprise), two great conservative Republicans (Rep. Timothy Hill
Rep. Kirk Haston voted for it, and the last three committee members, all Republican (Rep. Dennis
Powers, Rep. Rush Bricken, and Rep. Curtis Johnson), were present and did not cast a vote either
for or against the bill. In essence, they were present, but not voting.
I submit that HB 1706 was important legislation that could have raised hundreds of millions of
dollars to give teachers greater pay that they so well deserve, to give law enforcement officers greater
pay for sacrificing their life every day to protect our safety, and to give rural counties in dire financial
conditions the money they need to improve infrastructure and recruit business to provide jobs for
their citizens. Perhaps, the lobbyists for the big money special interest groups serving as “licensed
money transfer agents” under Tennessee law such as Western Union, Moneygram, Google, Apple
and a host of others persuaded some of my fellow GOP house members that HB 1706 was a bad
bill. I sure would like to know. I imagine a large number of Tennessee taxpayers and voters would
like to know the answer as well; however, I’ll leave those questions and investigations for true
journalists. Ultimately, HB 1706 remains important legislation that could easily get Tennessee out
of its’ budget hole and it can be out back on the table when the legislature goes back into session in
June. The House and the Senate can simply vote to suspend the rules and bring the legislation back
up! Additionally, the 3 members of the House Banking Subcommittee (Rep. Dennis Powers, Rep.
Rush Bricken, and Rep. Curtis Johnson), who were present but chose not to vote either for or
against the bill could ask to change their vote and have the bill brought back up for reconsideration
before the subcommittee.
If you agree with me and think this is a sound idea and approach to get Tennessee out of our budget
hole, please contact your State Representative, your State Senator, and the Governor’s office and let
them know that you want HB1706/SB2075 passed. In my opinion, this bill may very well be one of
the best solutions to solve Tennessee’s budget problems without having to drastically cut other
criticial budget items and services for Tennesseans.
Bruce I. Griffey
Attorney at Law
State Representative District 75

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Bruce Griffey

May 19, 2020

How To Solve Tennessee’s Covid19 (a.k.a. Chinese virus) Budget Problem.

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