Pork Alert

Despite the outcry and petitions, the Johnson City Commission approved a 20 percent property tax increase to help fund a new aquatic center, taking nearly $10 million additional dollars a year from residents and businesses. While it’s bad enough that the $37 million sticker price will rise to $55 million with interest, what’s worse is…

Nashville residents are hurting. Regular families and local business owners, from small mom and pop shops to major Broadway establishments, have been crushed by recent property tax increases. While Mayor Freddie O’Connell claimed the property tax increase was needed to fund essential services like schools and public safety, it seems those extra funds are going…

Tennessee taxpayers are about to spend millions on a Starbucks order they didn’t ask for. In April, the world’s largest coffee chain announced it would be opening a Southeast corporate office in Music City. The state has done well in attracting businesses, both large and small, through a low-tax, business-friendly environment. Yet those bigger businesses…

In 2021 and 2023, the Hamilton County government’s purchase of McDonald Farm was featured in the Pork Report, and it seems 2026 is welcoming their boondoggle once again. For its first appearance, Hamilton County commissioners spent $16 million to purchase the property with the hopes of turning it into a manufacturing hub. Although barely a…

Beacon has long called “Cut!” on film incentives, yet these corporate welfare flops are a recurring character in our Pork Report. Most recently, the millions of tax dollars for 9-1-1: Nashville took home the “prestigious” title of Pork of the Year in the 2025 Pork Report. Despite the “riveting” scenes of bachelorettes bleeding all over…