Pushing Taxpayers Into the Deep End

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 that the costs for Johnson City residents will continue for years with ongoing operational subsidies.

Though the city’s own feasibility study showed the new aquatic center would require annual subsidies and the city was bucking a national trend, with aquatic center attendance lower than pre-COVID levels, the Commission brushed aside this data and residents’ concerns and passed the higher rate anyway.

This is the root of the problem: Tennessee has no property tax cap. While 46 states and D.C. have some form of property tax cap in place – and still manage to fund essential services – local governments in Tennessee are free to jack up property tax rates to unbearable levels without basic taxpayer protections.

We’ve seen it time and time again: residents are forced to move, and businesses are forced to close because of massive tax hikes. Just last year, Nashville passed a tax increase that caused many local businesses to shutter, and cities like Mt. Juliet saw a staggering triple-digit percentage increase. Each year, local governments across the Volunteer State have seen double-digit and even triple-digit increases in their property tax rates, while residents in the vast majority of states are provided the most basic level of taxpayer protection: a property tax cap.

Though the ink is dry on the tax hike, residents are going to get soaked with higher tax bills. It’s time for Tennessee to give residents protections, not lazy rivers.