Bredesen IDs the Real Budget Problem
Phil Bredesen, the leading Democrat candidate for governor, made the following comments on the income tax, spending, and Gov. Sundquist's fiscal mismanagement, on Teddy Bart's Round Table radio forum Thursday morning:

"I don't think a new tax, I don't think an income tax is the right answer to the problems we've had. I think it's important to recognize that we are not alone in this set of shortfalls we've got. There are 46 of the 50 states are having problems - and we don't even have a particularly serious one compared to most of the other states out there, because states that are dependent on an income tax have had a lot sharper fall off in their revenues than we have here in Tennessee. What's happened is, I think the governor has made a fundamental error, which is to spend money before he had it.

"The last couple of years we've seen much greater growth in the budgets of the state of Tennessee. We're No. 2 in the country in terms of the increases that are being proposed. That's okay when times are good. I just think its a bad mistake to spend money before you have it. I think what the governor should have done if he wants to do some new things is to describe what those are, put a tax on the table, and if it passes go ahead and do them. That's what I tried to do as mayor. But this notion of spend the money and keep the spending up and the way that it's been and force us into this corner that we're in now I just think it's bad stewardship of the government."

No candidate has made a clearer statement outlining the real cause of the budget 'crisis' than has Phil Bredesen.

To hear all of Bredesen's comments - which are uniformly excellent - Click Here. You'll need an audio player such as Windows Media Player.