>The times is trying to get you to register as a new user
>(it's a free service)...
>however, I'll tell the site to zap you a copy of the article...

i didn't want to register with them. i was trying to avoid them getting my
email address at all.

the problem is that now the NYTimes has my email address, and i was trying
to avoid that.
i was hoping that if you thought the article was interesting enough, you
would post the contents yourself to the UTC list, thereby avoiding the need
for any of us to have to subscribe to the NYTimes online edition, or to
click-through, or allowing them to obtain my email address through a
third-party.  free-service or not, every online commercial enterprise that
i know of holds onto all email addresses ever used in their solicitations
and uses the email addresses for future emailings -and- sells these
addresses to third-parties.  that's in part one of the big stinks
amazon.com got involved in.
so, a suggestion to folks considering referencing an interesting article on
the web:
the best of all possible worlds is to post the info directly to the list so
that an interested party doesn't have to click-through (click on the link,
launch a browser, then get to the website) to see it.
the second best way is to make sure the webpage is publicly viewable
without a person having to register (the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.merit.edu/ is also a site to which a person must first
subscribe before being allowed access).
both ways a person doesn't have to give up their email address.

any ways, don't worry about it.  i get enough junk mail that setting one
more filter won't stress me. ;)
thanks for the thought.

;>


>This article from NYTimes.com
>has been sent to you by [log in to unmask]
>
>here's the copy
>
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>
>Fiscal Stature of Tennessee Slips in War Over Taxes
>
>By DAVID FIRESTONE
>
>
>
>NASHVILLE, Aug. 21 — It was only two years ago that Tennessee
>was considered a model of good financial management, one of only
>nine states whose governments had top-drawer credit ratings from
>all the rating agencies and the envy of Southeastern states
>struggling to modernize.
>
> But that was before a slowing economy gutted its revenue, which
>was vulnerable because of an almost total reliance on the volatile
>sales tax. Now Tennessee's fiscal reputation has fallen even
>further than those of the large group of other states struggling to
>balance their budgets, and deep rifts have been exposed among
>residents and legislators over the proper role of state government
>in lean times.
>
> Two weeks ago, after yielding to large crowds at the Capitol here
>protesting a proposed income tax, legislators could balance the
>budget only by spending all the state's remaining $560 million
>share of the national settlement with the tobacco industry; most
>other states are using their settlement windfalls for health
>purposes and preventing tobacco use.
>
> Almost immediately, the rating agencies sharply downgraded the
>state's credit, warning that Tennessee must plot a course back to
>fiscal responsibility if it expects to borrow money in the future.
>Schools now worry about finding money for building projects, and a
>few districts were so short of cash they had to open several days
>late this year. Money for health care and mental health programs is
>likely to be slashed, and state colleges and universities have
>raised their tuition 15 percent.
>
> "We are suddenly in a very precarious position," said C. Warren
>Neel, the state commissioner of finance. "The revenues of this
>year's budget could fall short, and our rainy-day fund needs to be
>much higher. If we don't change the structure of our tax system, we
>are going to be at the mercy of lawsuits from people who need our
>services, and we'll gradually lose our ability to govern ourselves.
>We'll be like Alabama."
>
> Being like Alabama, frankly, is not the way Tennesseans have
>traditionally seen themselves. The state always had a reputation
>for being better educated and more economically vibrant than its
>neighbors farther south. But now, with dozens of states struggling
>to balance their budgets, it has found itself hit even harder than
>most, because, unlike 41 states, it cannot rely on the cushion of
>an income tax.
>
> Nearly three-fourths of its revenue comes from its 6 percent sales
>tax. This was enough in the days when Tennessee had a mostly
>manufacturing and agricultural economy, with actual goods to tax.
>But as the state moved more heavily into untaxable services, sales
>tax revenue began to slip, particularly with so much commerce
>taking place on the Internet, where taxes cannot reach.
>
> The slowing of the economy has magnified the effect. State sales
>tax collections last month were 2.6 percent lower than at the same
>time last year, and Mr. Neel's office said that even the current
>budget, patched together with tobacco-settlement money, was likely
>to fall short of its goals if the economy remained anemic.
>
> Opponents of the income tax say the sales tax would be perfectly
>adequate if the state simply cut back on spending for social
>purposes, particularly the expensive TennCare health insurance
>program.
>
> "I know that we can find a way to run this state and deliver
>services in such a way that we remain a low-tax state," said State
>Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from the Nashville suburb of
>Brentwood. "All we have to do is hold the line on growth, and that
>will take care of our budget problems."
>
> The state's aversion to the income tax dates from 1931, when the
>Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that an income tax enacted not long
>before was unconstitutional. The State Constitution does not
>specifically prohibit a personal income tax, but neither does it
>list one among the several taxes it says the state can levy. (It
>does allow a tax on interest and dividends, which is in effect.)
>
> While a succession of five state attorneys general have said that
>an income tax would be legal if the legislation was properly worded
>to comply with the court's concerns, the decades without such a tax
>have created an immensely passionate popular opposition to it.
>
> Gov. Don Sundquist, who won office in 1994 as a conservative
>Republican opposed to an income tax, changed his position after his
>re- election, citing a need to preserve high-quality education and
>health care programs.
>
> "I did not run for governor to preside over Tennessee's descent
>into the ranks of the least, the lowest and the last of the 50
>states," he said in 1999, after announcing that he would sign an
>income tax bill if it came to his desk.
>
> But no such bill came, even as Tennessee slid to 48th in the
>nation in the average amount that residents pay in state taxes, and
>48th in per- pupil spending for education.
>
> This year the Democratic-controlled legislature seemed only a few
>votes shy of passing an income tax plan that would have also
>reduced the sales tax, but as a vote neared on July 12, Senator
>Blackburn's office sent an e-mail message to the hosts of a radio
>talk show, who were quickly able to produce a large anti-tax rally
>at the Capitol.
>
> While lawmakers were in session, protesters honked horns and
>banged on the statehouse doors, and one woman broke a window with
>her fist. Negotiations on the tax fell apart, and the legislature
>passed a budget that required using the tobacco money.
>
> Calling the budget bill irresponsible, Governor Sundquist vetoed
>it on July 26. "I believe that this bill is certain to cause our
>great state irreparable injury," he said, "and puts our state on
>the path toward disaster."
>
> But less than two weeks later the legislature overrode his veto,
>and the budget took effect. Many of the protesters claimed victory.
>Their comments reflect a profound suspicion of those in power, and
>a reluctance to trust them with a new tax.
>
> "This state has a spending problem, and the budget just keeps
>growing every year," said David Ivy, a resident of suburban Mount
>Juliet who was among the crowd at the Capitol in July. "We
>understand that you have to have taxes to operate this society, but
>there is a huge amount of waste, and all they say is, `It's for the
>children,' and expect us to throw money at it."
>
> But a recent analysis by The Commercial Appeal, the Memphis daily,
>showed that most of the growth in state spending was mandated by
>the courts or the federal government and so was outside the
>discretion of the state. Given that continuing pressure on the
>budget, many supporters of the income tax believe its adoption is
>only a matter of time, particularly now that there is no tobacco
>money left to plug holes.
>
> "It used to be an obscenity to talk about an income tax, and now
>at least it's a policy choice," said Senator Bob Rochelle, a
>Democrat from nearby Lebanon who was a leading proponent of the tax
>in the legislature. "Once people understand the implications of
>having an unhealthy state government — fewer people with
>diplomas, with health care — I think things will change when
>this comes up again."
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/23/national/23TENN.html?ex=999582627&ei=1&en=2def525c0b4a44a8
>
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