Guiding Principles

The mission of Tennesseans for Fair Taxation is to create a more fair and progressive tax structure that ensures adequate revenue for the benefit of all Tennesseans. Stated another way, TFT works to create a more balanced, common sense tax system that invests in Tennessee, its communities, and its people. At the core of the organization's work is a commitment to fairness, adequacy, and a common sense approach to funding state services.

We recognize the value of the public investments our tax dollars make possible. Working together for the common good, we can achieve great things. Our economic prosperity as a nation and as a state is made possible by many of these investments. Education, transportation systems, courts, and public safety investments are foundational to our economic health and prosperity. Similarly, investments in environmental protection, public health, and parks work to improve our quality of life. In the end, it's about working together through the public sector to achieve a greater common good.

To make those fundamental investments however, we must first address the structural problems that are limiting the potential of our state; Tax loopholes that allow one group to avoid paying taxes that others must pay; Taxing basic necessities like food, while private school tuition, attorney fees, stocks, and real estate investments enjoy tax-free status under our sales tax; A tax system that fails to keep pace with the economy, resulting in year-after-year budget shortfalls.

While we recognize the shortcomings of our current system for financing state services, we don't wallow in it. Instead, we choose to join together as citizens and face those challenges head on. As we overcome those challenges, Tennessee as a state, along with the people who call it home, can achieve greatness.