Lump of Coal second year in a row

TCPR's annual Lump of Coal award goes again this year to Governor Phil Bredesen and the Tennessee General Assembly--

for raiding the state’s budget surplus to fund wasteful pork projects instead of returning the money to taxpayers by suspending the sales tax on groceries.

and

The state’s grocery tax, which disproportionately burdens the state’s poorest families, generated $483 million last year. Had state leaders decided to return part of the surplus to overtaxed Tennesseans by suspending the sales tax on groceries for a year, every family in the state would have an average of $210 more in their pockets this holiday season to pay bills, visit loved ones or have a few extra presents under the tree. The governor and state legislators chose instead to waste the money.

When it was within their power to legitimately help the poor--the Governor and the legislature ignored the fact the money isn't theirs and decided to keep it for such important projects as golf courses, secret meeting rooms and the "Speaker Jimmy Naifeh National Guard Armory".

Maybe these folks shop at a different Kroger--but mine won't take any of the above in trade for bread, milk and eggs. So what I, and a LOT of other families need, is our hard earned cash back--not signage, not a smoke filled room, and certainly not another lawn to maintain.