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News Media’s Best and Worst: City Finances and Teens
The Commercial Appeal’s week-long series about the City of Memphis’ financial problems riveted attention as only a daily newspaper can do. While it reminded us about the value and...
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Low-Paying Jobs “Good Enough” for Memphis and Shelby County
Just when there is an encouraging new energy and a feeling of momentum here, we are reminded of the nagging lack of self-worth that surfaces too often in this community. This time...
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City’s Business Appeals Spotlight Our Unfair Tax System
It seems like both sides in the controversy about possible appeals by City of Memphis of 200 commercial property tax assessments find themselves with less than winning hands. On one...
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Memphis’ Budget Challenge Is Structural
In our last post, we wrote about the way that public safety costs dominate the City of Memphis budget to the detriment of services like parks, libraries, and community centers which are...
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Data Points: PILOTs and Shelby County Taxes
When discussion of PILOTs come up, attention regularly turns only to EDGE, but it’s worth remembering that there are nine other public agencies in Shelby County that can also waive...
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“Free Stuff” Comments Free Of The Facts
It’s been obvious that some presidential candidates are tone deaf to the meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement, but recent comments by Jeb Bush that African Americans are...
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Taxing Times in North Mississippi
Yet another study – this one by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – concludes that differences in state taxes “have little to no effect on whether and where people move.” The primary...
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Assessing The IKEA Property Tax Controversy
So, let’s think this through. IKEA bought property at the southeast corner of I-40 and Germantown Parkway for $5.6 million four months ago. We assume that the international retailer...
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Absolutely, Positively Searching For Tax Equity
Here we go again. A long-term tax freeze is expiring but the company wants more. Next step: the threat to move. In retrospect, one of the great blunders by former mayor A C Wharton was...
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City Council Complications, Growth, and Short Honeymoons
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland must feel like somebody who gets married, and shortly after returning from the honeymoon, the statements for his spouse’s maxed-out credit cards start...
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Legislators’ Lack Of Facts Fans Flames Of Deannexation
A lot of Bible verses get quoted in the Tennessee Legislature to justify political positions and legislative actions. When it comes to deannexation, the verse that comes to our mind...
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The Long And Winding Road Of Deannexation
Sometimes, the best revenge is to give people what they’re asking for. It’s tempting to do that with the deannexation advocates who so passionately want to get out of Memphis. That’s...
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Refusing To Shrink From the Facts About Deannexation
Ten days ago, in the wake of the Tennessee Legislature’s decision to send the deannexation bill back for more study, we blogged that City of Memphis should begin a process to consider...
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Tennessee’s Upside Down Tax Structure
Awhile back, the lede in the New York Times said: “When it comes to taxes closes to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit.” These were the results of an Institute on Taxation...
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Data Points: Waived County Taxes and Upward Mobility
Amount of Shelby County Taxes Waived The following are the yearly amounts of Shelby County taxes waived by EDGE (and before EDGE, the Memphis and Shelby County Industrial Board,...
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Property Assessments Slightly Up (Except For Millington) But Wait Until Next...
This post is written by Jimmie Covington, veteran Memphis reporter with lengthy experience covering governmental, educational, and demographic issues. He is now a contributing writer with The Best...
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Smooth Sailing For Budget May Be A Sign Of The Future
Relationships run a lot smoother when money worries are lessened. That’s one of the takeaways from the most uneventful City of Memphis budget hearings in more than 10 years. More than...
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A County Surplus Of Confusion, If Not Money
This post is written by Jimmie Covington, veteran Memphis reporter with lengthy experience covering governmental, school, and demographic issues. He is a contributing writer with The...
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An EDGE Approval That Can Curdle Your Milk
The following is a proposal we received from a concerned Memphian: Payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) is a program which reduces or eliminates property taxes for a period of time as an...
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County Tax Freeze Sought For Memphis Company To Move To Germantown
Here’s hoping Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell will insist on smart tax policy by turning down Germantown’s request for a county PILOT for a corporation moving about 2,100 feet...
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