An example as was in letters to the editors of our newspaper this week" this
person had carried this lady to get some prescriptions. She used a ten-care
card and paid nothing in money, further said this lady was employed by an
insurance company for last 5 years.

Best regards,
Curtis Gossett

"Dr. Joe Dumas" wrote:

> Dan Baker wrote:
> >
> > ... we are ... 49th in the nation in total tax revenues collected per
> > capita (we are, by the way, 33rd in per capita income)?
>
> Is this supposed to be a bad thing?  I love living in a low-tax state.
> I wish Tennessee were 50th in taxes per capita rather than only 49th.
>
> It's not that Tennessee isn't taking in, and spending, more money than
> ever before.  From 1990-97 total state expenditures increased 38.4%,
> adjusted for inflation ... the 11th largest *increase* in spending of
> the 50 states.  From 1992-98, Tennessee population (plus inflation) grew
> 24.7% while state revenues grew by over twice that much (54.5%).  These
> yearly increases in state revenues and spending have continued to exceed
> the rate of population growth and inflation ... this despite the fact
> that Article II, Section 24 of the Tennessee Constitution states that
> "in no year shall the rate of growth of appropriations from state tax
> revenues exceed the estimated rate of growth of the state's economy...."
>
> Our state budget shortfall has arisen not from a lack of revenues but
> from *huge increases in spending* over the past several years.  It is
> unfortunate from UTC's point of view that most of those increases have
> not been in the area of education.  (Rather, the lion's share has gone
> to that mismanaged, failed experiment in socialized medicine known as
> TennCare.)  Bluntly put, our state doesn't have a revenue problem, it
> has a spending problem.  We *may* not be spending enough on education
> (or perhaps we are just not spending existing funds as effectively as
> possible), but we *are* spending far too much in other areas.
>
> I suggest that anyone moved to write his or her legislators regarding
> the current state of affairs might concentrate on calling for spending
> reform rather than requesting euphemistically-termed "tax reform" which,
> of course, is just "tax increases" and/or "new taxes" in disguise.  You
> might also suggest that they read what the state constitution has to say
> about growth of appropriations.
>
> Just my $0.02 (plus 8.25%) worth.
>
> Joe Dumas