May 21, 2025 - Gov. Bill Lee on X
- Last week, Gov. Bill Lee joined other GOP governors in endorsing President Donald Trump’s Republican budget proposal that gives permanent tax breaks to billionaires, rips away healthcare from nearly 14 million Americans and slashes food assistance for 40 million working families.
- Lee’s endorsement is no surprise: Tennessee’s governor has signed multiple tax breaks for CEOs and big corporations, he’s ignored the state’s growing population of people who have lost their health coverage, and, earlier this year, the administration rejected federal funding to feed low-income children.
- If signed into law, Trump’s federal budget bill could have devastating consequences for the Volunteer State:
- Tax breaks overwhelmingly benefit the rich, raise costs for working families and explode the federal debt by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade;
- Cuts to Medicaid could cancel health coverage for 250,000 Tennesseans, hurting families and endangering vulnerable hospitals and medical providers who lose paying customers;
- Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will hurt food-insecure families and thousands of rural groceries and retailers who lose paying customers.
- Taking from the poor to give to the rich is a policy choice. Thanks for nothing, governor!
Republican-backed corporate tax breaks widen Tennessee’s budget deficit
May 21, 2025 - Finance Department - April Revenues release
- April officially pushed Tennessee into its deepest budget deficit of the fiscal year, $139 million, thanks almost entirely to cratering corporate tax collections. According to Fiscal Review’s latest revenue report, total tax collections were down $316.9 million compared to April of last year. That shortfall was driven by a staggering $375 million year-over-year drop in Franchise and Excise tax collections, which are paid by corporations.
- This marks the latest consequence of two consecutive years of record corporate tax breaks passed by Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature. For Fiscal Year 2025 so far, corporations have paid nearly $860 million less in taxes than they did the year before. And while state budget writers expected lower business tax revenue, the reality has been even worse—collections are nearly $400 million below target for the year to date.
- Sales tax collections came in slightly above estimates, helping slow the bleeding. But the gap created by these giveaways to corporate CEOs is growing. April’s report confirms what many warned: Tax cuts for big corporations don’t pay for themselves—they leave a hole in the budget.
- Meanwhile, working families continue to face sky-high grocery bills and soaring housing costs. And what has the Republican legislature done for them? Nothing. Not a single tax cut for the middle class. No help with everyday expenses. Just more tax breaks for those at the top.
- As Think Tennessee notes, the state already has one of the lowest effective business tax rates in the nation—and a regressive tax structure that forces low-income families to pay a far larger share of their income than the wealthy.
- If this deficit persists through the end of the fiscal year, no one should expect Republican leaders to ask corporations to pay their fair share. Their playbook is clear: It’s socialism for the rich, harsh capitalism for everyone else.
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Interesting how Democrats said Republicans favored the rich. When Bernie became a multi-millionaire, they switched to Republicans giving tax breaks to billionaires. “Data shows wealthier Americans are now solidly behind the Democrat Party, a generational realignment that has altered power dynamics in DC” (Newsweek 6/19/23).
American voters understood that and it led to the implosion of Democrats currently playing out daily in the news. The DNC is backtracking on their leadership and now spending $20 million to learn how to talk to men.
“Maybe it’s using the word 'oligarchs' instead of rich people. Or referring to people experiencing food insecurity rather than Americans going hungry. Or ‘equity’ in place of equality or ‘justice involved populations’ instead of prisoners.” (WashPo 5/27/25)
Mr. Puttbrese, even your party elites say it’s not working (WSJ 5/26/25). That $20 million could be used to help veterans find meaningful jobs. And when your party can give the definition of a woman, you might be moving toward how to talk to men and admitting which party is supported by the wealthy.
Ralph Miller