Tennessee Tax Revolt, Inc. www.TnTaxRevolt.org
For Immediate Release Contact: Ben Cunningham
Monday January 3, 2005 Phone: 615-847-8050
Memphis wins the Tennessee Tax Bowl, AGAIN!!!
Memphis is NUMBER ONE with the HIGHEST
Property Tax Rate in the State of Tennessee
Tennessee Tax Revolt, Inc., (TTR) an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan, statewide taxpayer advocacy group, today awarded the City of Memphis the dubious distinction of Winner of the 2005 Tennessee Tax Bowl. Memphis competed with four hundred and two (402) city and county tax jurisdictions around the state and came out on top with a combined city/county property tax rate of $7.27. TTR pointed out that this is more than a dollar above the second place city.
“It was not even close” said Ben Cunningham, a Tennessee Tax Revolt spokesman, “and it looks like Memphis taxpayers will be paying the highest property tax rate in the State of Tennessee for a long time to come. With the city of Memphis considering a 54 cent tax increase Memphians will keep winning the tax bowl unfortunately. In fact, the main competition comes from the six other cities in Shelby County which were in the top 20.”
TTR believes that Memphis and Shelby County taxpayers will continue their exodus to Tipton County (highest rate=$3.34) and Fayette county (highest rate=$3.95) in Tennessee and DeSoto County in Mississippi. This exodus will worsen the trend toward higher taxes because there will be fewer taxpayers to bear the tax burden. “Until elected representatives address spending, the tax burden will continue to spiral out of control. Taxpayers make hard decisions every month about their family budgets and they expect their city and county governments to do the same.” said Cunningham.
|
Rank |
County |
City |
Property Tax Rate |
|
1 |
SHELBY |
MEMPHIS |
$7.2704 |
|
2 |
MORGAN |
OAKDALE |
$6.1100 |
|
3 |
ANDERSON |
OAK RIDGE |
$6.0900 |
|
4 |
KNOX |
KNOXVILLE |
$6.0100 |
|
5 |
SHELBY |
GERMANTOWN |
$5.7900 |
|
6 |
HAMILTON |
LOOKOUT MTN |
$5.7610 |
|
7 |
HAMILTON |
CHATTANOOGA |
$5.5770 |
|
8 |
SHELBY |
COLLIERVILLE |
$5.5400 |
|
9 |
SHELBY |
BARTLETT |
$5.4700 |
|
10 |
MADISON |
HUMBOLDT |
$5.4500 |
|
11 |
FRANKLIN |
TULLAHOMA |
$5.4300 |
|
12 |
COFFEE |
MANCHESTER |
$5.4100 |
|
13 |
COFFEE |
TULLAHOMA |
$5.3700 |
|
14 |
SHELBY |
MILLINGTON |
$5.3200 |
|
15 |
ROANE |
OAK RIDGE |
$5.3150 |
|
16 |
ANDERSON |
NORRIS |
$5.2900 |
|
17 |
MORGAN |
OLIVER SPGS |
$5.1100 |
|
18 |
SHELBY |
ARLINGTON |
$5.0900 |
|
19 |
SULLIVAN |
BRISTOL |
$5.0200 |
|
20 |
ANDERSON |
LAKE CITY |
$5.0000 |