West Tenn. Members Roll with Sales Tax Boycott
Driving to the store for groceries is hardly news - unless consumers
are driving miles out of their way to shop out of state. On March 2 and April
6, 2002, tax reform supporters from Bolivar and Jackson boycotted Tennessee's sales
tax and trekked across the border to Missouri, where tax on food was only 3.75%
rather than a whopping 8.75%.
"We were fed up with the tax structure in the state," remembers
TFT member Chanda Freeman. "We refused to pay the sales tax."
The first Bolivar-Jackson caravan in March garnered radio and
print coverage, but it took a follow-up event to get the attention of television.
WBBJ-ABC rode with the Bolivar-Jackson caravan on April 6, taping members as
they shopped in Missouri to protest Tennessee´s high sales tax. The story aired
on both the 6 and 10 o'clock news.
The Bolivar-Jackson boycotts mirrored actions taken by members
in Chattanooga, Clarksville, and Nashville. Supporters from these cities organized
out-of-state shopping excursions on March 2 and 16. The Tennessee boycotts drew
extensive media coverage.
The caravan actions were effective in showing that consumers in
neighboring states of Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia pay much lower
sales taxes on groceries and other items. In some cases, no sales tax at all
on groceries (Kentucky) and nonprescription drugs (Virginia).
TFT supporters across the state drove across the border to send
a powerful message to legislators: Enough is enough!
As the Knoxville News-Sentinel put it, "They're putting
their money where their mouth is."
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