Whose money is it?

I agree.

"Bredesen and his fellow Democrats, on the other hand, view your money as the “common good” and “common wealth” to be used in ways that are beneficial to society as a whole, as determined not by you the taxpayer, but by them." TNGOP

I'd throw in a couple of Republicans too. It certainly seems the only explanation. Families tell legislators we need to keep more of our money and we can decide on our own what charitable efforts to fund. But that's not good enough. It really does come across as they know better than we do how to spend what was OUR money.

Here's the video of Gov. Bredesen's amazing comment (Hat Tip: TnGOP):

Here, again, is what Gov. Bredesen said:

“One of the great things about being governor is you get to take taxes away from people and then give it back to them and they’re happy to have it back. Is this a great job or what?”

“Frankly, Gov. Bredesen, the people of Tennessee would have been very happy to get some of their tax money back last year, when the state had a $1.5 billion revenue surplus,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “Instead, governor, you raised taxes by $242 million, and agreed only to a token cut in the sales tax on food. " TN GOP

And I was up there last year risking life and limb during a thunderstorm saying "Give it back" and pointing out our grocery taxes last year came to $956.30 and asking them to Cut the Food Tax. But Gov. Bredesen and the legislature didn't 'give it back'. They decided that $1.3+ Billion in extra revenue had better places to go than the Brooks family (and your family).

The only money we got back was $10 from the Republican House Caucus. We eventually got an anemic 1/2% reduction in grocery sales tax that just this month went into effect.

The Governor didn't "take taxes away from people and then give it back to them". He gave it to his staff in hefty pay raises. He gave it to former land owners along the upper Cumberland, he's about to give it to contractors for his very exclusive party bunker.

This isn't a great job. This is a very poor job.