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TFT Action Fund


Community Shares
Take Action!
Workshop Schedule a tax reform workshop for your church or community group.

Download Tax Reform Workshop Brochure

Schedule a workshop at your church, neighborhood association, or community group.

Download the handout, print, and distribute in your community. Lots of photos of workshops in action. Bring a copy to your next community meeting and get us on the agenda.



Download TFT Fact Sheets
Print, copy, and distribute widely!

Remember, not everyone is on the net!  Help TFT spread the facts by downloading and distributing good old fashioned fact sheets.

Real Budget Deficit: A call to invest in Tennessee, its communities, and its people.
Full Report - Posted 10/17/06

This eye-opening report sheds new light on all the talk we hear in the state about so-called surpluses and deficits. The problem with such talk, the report points out, is that it only measures current revenue against previous years and the low expectations of our elected officials. If Tennessee funded public structures, from education to environmental protection, at the same level as our eight neighboring states, Tennessee would be facing a combined state and local shortfall of $3.4 billion.


Imagine the Possibilities!
One-page summary of the Real Budget Deficit report - Posted 12/6/06

This one-page handout is a positive and forward looking testament of what Tennessee could be like if we closed the public investment and performance gap that separates us from our neighboring states. It also encourages readers to learn more by downloading the full Budget Deficit report.



The Nation's Highest Sales Tax (129KB PDF file):
The consequences for Tennessee - Updated 12/20/05.

A comparison of average sales tax rates for all 50 states. Tennessee is currently tied for the nation's highest average state and local sales tax. The history of so-called 'temporary' sales tax hikes in Tenn. 



The Tax Relief & Reform Act (1.2 MB PDF file):
Summary of Senate Bill 1808 / House Bill 1873:

  • 6 reasons to support the Tax Relief and Reform Act
  • Sample families - Who will pay less and who will pay more.
  • How tax reform will create a level playing field
This fact sheet is designed to be copies on 11 x 17 paper folded in half with the sample families on the inside as you open it.

49th and Sinking (300 KB PDF file):
and why the sales tax doesn't work.

The consequences Tennessee's outdated and inadequate tax system has on state services. Reverse side lists some of the main reasons why the sales tax no longer works in our 21st Century economy. 



Penalized for Being Poor (1.8 MB PDF file):
A very popular 4-page fact sheet.

An easy-to-understand look at why the sales tax is unfair. Two family budgets are put side-by-side using pie charts and graphics.

Yes, this is the yellow & blue fact sheet many have seen (10,000 distributed).  It's usually copied on 11x17 paper with the two pie charts side by side in the middle.
Older fact sheets and downloads are below:

A Flat vs. Graduated Income Tax (60 KB PDF file):
Understanding the debate.

  • A look at three revenue options before Tennessee. 
  • Which one creates a level playing field. 


Sales Tax vs. Income Tax (100 KB PDF file):
A good all-around fact sheet.

  • An overview of the key advantages of an income tax versus a sales tax. 
  • A comparison of Tennessee's tax system with the system in South Carolina. 
  • A summary of the neighboring state's moves to eliminate their food tax. 

Note:  To read the above files, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader.  Most web browsers already come with it, but if yours doesn't, you can download it for free.

For additional on-line fact sheets, click here.

Healthy Economies

Enabling more people to join the middle class is at the core of creating a healthy and vibrant economy in Tennessee.
Creating space for entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow and flourish in the state is an important part of creating a strong middle class.

Our middle class is stronger when these locally-owned grocery stores, bicycle shops, florists, accounting firms, and other small businesses dot the landscape from Memphis to Mountain City.

Unfortunately, our state is putting these small business people at a disadvantage to large, multi-state corporations by allowing loopholes to persist that enable these big companies to avoid paying their fair share of business taxes. While large businesses can shelter their profits from Tennessee's business taxes through out-of-state subsidiaries in Delaware and Nevada, our small businesses don't have such a luxury and are forced to pay taxes that their well-heeled competitors can largely avoid. That's simply not fair

Positive Change

A new proposal being advocated by TFT, the Food & Business Tax Fairness Act, would enact further reductions in the state’s high food tax, paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes that benefit large multi-state corporations at the expense of our local entrepreneurs and small business people.


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