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January 26, 2006
New Report: TN in Top 5 in Income Inequality
The United States was built on the ideal that hard work should pay off, that individuals who contribute to the nation's economic growth should reap the benefits of that growth. Over the past two decades however, the benefits of economic growth has been skewed in favor of the wealthiest members of society according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities entitled, “Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends.”
Even more troubling, this report shows that out of 50 states, Tennessee is
among the worst in income inequality. While inequality has grown in states across
the country since the 80s, Tennessee has had the 4th fastest growth in income
inequality over the past 20 years and was #1 in inequality growth during the
last 10 years.
Tennessee is now 3rd out of 50 states in income inequality between high and
low-income earners and 5th in inequality between high and middle-income earners.
In fact, Tennessee is the only state that appears among the top 10 of all six
measures of income inequality and inequality growth cited in the report.
While globalization and loss of manufacturing jobs have contributed to the growing inequality, those factors alone cannot explain why Tennessee is so far out of line from the rest of the nation... unless one believes that somehow Tennessee is more affected by these factors than 90% of the nation. Clearly, something is setting Tennessee apart from the rest of the nation. That something is state-level policies that fail to value the hard work of average Tennesseans.
Additional Links:
TFT joins with the AFL-CIO to publicize the report with press conferences
in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis on Thursday.
Because the recommendations of the report went far beyond just fair tax systems,
TFT worked to partner with the Tennessee AFL-CIO in releasing the report. While
the AFL-CIO has no position on tax reform as advocated by TFT, they do have
very strong positions on the other recommendations made in the report. Working
together, we were able to talk about the report as well as the various policy
recommendations the report sets forth.
When looked at as a whole, it is no wonder Tennessee is among the worst in
the nation in terms of income inequity. We have the nation's highest average
food tax and one of the most unfair tax systems in the nation. Unlike the 18
states cited in the report, Tennessee does not have a minimum wage beyond the
national level. Tennessee laws make it difficult for employees to organize and
engage in collective bargaining. All of these factors that were cited in the
report help contribute to Tennessee's gross inequalities.
While TFT talked about our efforts to cut the unjust food tax and create a more equitable system, one of the campaigns the AFL-CIO talked about at the press conferences would require large employers to provide health care to their employees instead of cost-shifting it onto state government. Over 30 states are looking at legislation, modeled
on the bill passed recently in Maryland, that would require large employers
to either provide health care to their employees or help pay to support the
state Medicaid program, TennCare in our case.
The press events were a huge success with coverage across the state. The three
press conferences were covered on at least four TV stations including Channels
6 & 8 in Knoxville, Channel 5 in Nashville, and a TV station in Memphis.
The public radio stations in both Knoxville (WUOT) and Nashville (WPLN) gave
extensive and quality coverage. The Tenn. Radio Network also ran a story that
was still airing this afternoon on scores of affiliated stations across Tennessee.
As for print media, the Commercial Appeal, Chattanooga Times-Free Press, Knoxville
News Sentinel, and the Nashville City Paper all ran original stories. There
was also an AP story that ran in over a dozen other papers across the state
including the Tennessean. All in all, it was a great success.
To see some of the news stories, use the following links:
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