Way To Call Down The Chamber, Rep. McCormick

Way to go, House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick. You made we the people very proud calling down the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce from the House floor.

For once, a high-ranking state elected official is calling down the Chamber of Commerce for the welfare recipients they really are.  Keep in mind that the Chamber of Commerce has the richest corporate membership in the region.   Yet, the Chamber wants the local property taxpayers to fund their operations.

The city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County governments gift $1.2 million of our hard-earned property taxes annually to the Chamber of Commerce to issue PILOT (payments in lieu of paying taxes). The Chamber’s program is commonly referred to as Profits in Lieu of Taxes.   We the people actually pay the Chamber of Commerce $1.2 million annually to lobby our elected officials for property tax exemptions for their members.

Now, the Chamber of Commerce sees the big pay check and is currently pushing Chattanooga 2.0 to interject themselves into education contracts.  Interestingly, the Chamber’s Chattanooga 2.0 has the same mission as the Public Education Foundation (PEF) and the political PAC organization, UnifiEd.   It is all about contracts, ask PEF.

Chamber of Commerce, get your paws out of our tax dollars.