It really boils down to: "How do you want them to take it?"
Taxes, that is. Tennessee has long been proud that it's one of only a few states that doesn't have an income tax. You get a few more dollars to take home every week or two weeks, depending on how you get paid.

But, it is now official that Tennessee has the highest sales tax rate in the country, averaging 9.25 percent for every dollar spent, going as high as 9.75 percent in some counties. Basically put, for every dollar you spend, you're asked to fork over another 9-10 cents to keep the government going. A small portion of this, about three cents, stays local, while the rest goes back to the state.
There have been a lot of arguments over the past few years whether an income tax could supplement the sales tax. Not replace it (let's not get crazy), but if we had an income tax, could the sales tax be lowered, to say 4 or 5 cents per dollar?

A lot of people believe this would work. I tend to disagree. As soon as that income tax wasn't enough to fund various government operations (probably about six months into it), you'd hear somebody somewhere say, "Well, let's take this sales tax back up to 6 cents. Not nearly 10 cents like before, but something we can live with."
This would begin to occur with alarming regularity and probably in less than two decades the sales tax would be back to 9.25 percent and we'd still have that lovely income tax to live with.
And this doesn't take into account that 4 or 5 percent would be the state rate. Cities have a lovely option of adding their own sales tax to that rate.

The proponents of an income tax say Tennessee is already losing money as more than half the population lives in cities that border other states that have much lower sales tax rates. I'm guessing they mean Memphis and Chattanooga, both of which practically spill into other states, and Nashville, which is not far from the Kentucky border.

This may be true, but you'd have to live awfully close to those other states to make the drive worthwhile. A $100 of items in Tennessee will cost you about $9 in taxes. In Georgia, where they charge about 4 percent taxes, you'd spend, well, $4, a savings of $5. Considering what gas prices are getting back up to, the first store I come to across the Georgia line had better be close; otherwise it's not going to be worth the trouble.

Of course, if you mention an income tax, most Tennesseans will start foaming at the mouth, declare war on the government and say there shouldn't be any taxes period, because one day they too will be super rich and they don't want their money going to somebody who'll laze around and live the good life on a $500 a month benefits check.

But anyway, how did Tennessee reach the point of having the highest sales tax rate in the country? Just gradual increases over the years. I can remember the rate being 6 percent many years ago, then it was 7, then 8 and before you knew it, you were looking at the cash register, thinking that number was a lot higher than the listed price for whatever you were buying.

Personally, I'm between a rock and a hard place. I abhor the idea of an income tax, but I'm beginning to really get fed up with the sales tax. I understand taxes and that we need them, but I have to think that as a sales tax gets higher and higher, it has to start hurting businesses. I know I've put an item back when I realized there was going to be $7, $8 or more dollars added to the price.

There are several solutions to this problem being bandied around, including the Fair Tax and the Flat tax, but they're both convoluted and if you ask 10 people about them, you'll get 10 different definitions.

One idea that is picking up steam is the idea of taxing Internet sales. Some places already charge sales tax for Internet sales, but they're some big boys, such as amazon.com, that don't. It's estimated that states could literally be losing billions of dollars every year due to this tax loophole (you can't charge a business sales tax if they don't have an actual physical presence in your state).

I order a lot of stuff online. A whole lot. But it's mainly cheap stuff and the tax probably wouldn't add much to it. I have a much bigger problem with ordering something that comes in a small box, takes three weeks to arrive, and they want $8 for shipping and handling. I'm sorry people, it doesn't cost $8 to ship a $9.99 DVD.

And there you have it. Tennessee is finally number one in something. We might not be able to kick a field goal against Alabama, but when they come up here next year for the game, we can sure tax the daylights out of the hot dogs and hamburgers they'll eat and the hotel rooms they stay in. Let's see 'em top that!

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat.com | 337-7101