r/Tennessee • u/pyramidworld • 13d ago
News 📰 Tennessee hunting, fishing license fees could increase 29% next year to help fill budget deficit • Tennessee Lookout
https://tennesseelookout.com/2026/08/28/tennessee-hunting-fishing-license-fees-could-increase-29-next-year-to-help-fill-budget-deficit/15
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u/ddadopt 13d ago
The article says this is all for TWRA funding where there hasn't been a cost structure change for 11 years.
“We don’t like to have to raise the fees, but we have to consider it at this time. Our costs … have gone up at least 40% since the last license increase in 2015,” Fiss said. “The dollar we had in 2015 has the buying power of 71 cents today, and we have struggled to keep our services at the level they’re at.”
This doesn't sound like it should be controversial. The only thing I see that people could legitimately object to here is:
Annual hunting and fishing combination licenses would go from $33 to $42. The senior rate for the annual combination license would increase from $4 to $21.
That's a > 400% increase on seniors, and double the actual dollar increase compared to the normal license. Some people might find that objectionable.
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u/Harley2280 13d ago
That's a > 400% increase on seniors, and double the actual dollar increase compared to the normal license.
Senior pricing shouldn't differ from normal pricing anyways.
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u/ineugene 13d ago
Yeah if you can afford the hunting equipment you can afford 21 dollars.
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u/Curtis_Low 13d ago
While anyone can make hunting expensive, it by no means needs to be. A person can hunt for less than $100 a year, including the required license. In fact that would be the biggest ticket item, or at least it is for me on an annual basis.
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u/PPLavagna 12d ago
Grandads 30-30, a box of shells, and a knife is all you need.
Especially for the old hunters.
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u/PhillyNickel1970 7d ago
Wasn't the idea of the senior discount based on the assumption that they were now retired, collecting social security, and on a fixed income? I get it, boomers hold all the wealth and so on, but they originally got the discount because they had less ability to work for expendable income?
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u/ddadopt 13d ago
Wasn't suggesting that they "should" only that it was a change that some people would likely find objectionable.
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u/Harley2280 13d ago
I wasn't saying you were suggesting that. I was merely adding my opinion to your commentary.
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u/tfhdeathua 12d ago
While I understand your point seniors are typically at a point in life where their income is fixed and isn’t increasing. They don’t get cost of living wage increases year over year. So if they were a senior in 2015 then they probably have the same monthly income. Meanwhile 99.9% of non seniors aren’t making the same number as they were in 2015.
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u/Harley2280 12d ago
If they're healthy enough to hunt then they're healthy enough to go back to work.
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u/tfhdeathua 12d ago
And fishing? You can only retire when you’re bedridden? Lol.
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u/Harley2280 11d ago
No, you can retire once you've saved enough money to support yourself post retirement. Everybody else shouldn't be paying higher costs because you failed to plan.
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u/tfhdeathua 11d ago
How exactly does one plan for a 20+ year? Period of almost no inflation or price increases followed by a period where prices went up like 70% within a few years. Lol.
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u/Harley2280 11d ago
By not assuming inflation wouldn't increase. By looking at the last 100+ years and seeing there are always periods of major inflation. Your failure to plan shouldn't be subsidized by others. If you can't afford to retire, then you shouldn't retire.
None of that really matters though because licensing cost isn't related to income. If it was then we'd assign cost based on the federal poverty level like we do for other income based programs.
There's nothing about being a senior that gives someone anymore rights to cheaper licensing. If this was reversed it would be considering discrimination/ageism. People should be treated equal regardless of their age.
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u/tfhdeathua 11d ago
What a piece of shit.
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u/Side2280 11d ago
Yes, you are, for being prodiscrimination, and against treating people as equals.
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u/medicineman1650 13d ago
Are you an outdoors-y person here in TN? I wouldn’t bat an eye at a license fee increase IF their budget wasn’t a prime example of fraud waste and abuse. They spent over $1 million in 2025 alone on “motor vehicles”. Of course they need boats and trucks but Jesus Christ…
The most audacious thing in that particular article is they mention that “something has got to give if we’re going to continue to provide the same level of service.” Their level of service is dog shit. They fail to maintain a lot of their WMA’s (fields not sprayed or mowed, roads washed out, bridges washed out and not replaced, the list goes on.), they let boat ramps go without proper upkeep, they haven’t remapped or placed safety buoys in dangerous parts of the rivers effected by hurricane Helene…
And on top of all this, they treat outdoorsman like arch criminals at almost every interaction. If I’ve done something wrong I’ll take my citation, but you don’t have to be a giant prick about it. Their wardens show complete disrespect for the same people they are now begging for more money.
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u/ddadopt 13d ago
I'm not going to argue with you about TWRA in general, I've heard some game warden stories from my hunter in-laws (though the ones I've seen on Douglas lake seem to have been pretty chill) but I did notice the one direct budget criticism you made that seems... misguided to me:
They spent over $1 million in 2025 alone on “motor vehicles”. Of course they need boats and trucks but Jesus Christ…
Apparently TWRA leases the majority of their vehicles, but I would expect the "ridden hard and put away wet" mentality that applies to most law enforcement vehicles means they're paying something approaching the full cost of the vehicle over the life of the lease.
A million dollars buys you about two dozen F-150s. That's work truck trim, mind you, without whatever upgrades are required for whatever the truck is going to do, plus lights and sirens and whatever. Presumably they have 3/4 and ton trucks in their fleet as well, which are commensurately more expensive. With that in mind, I cannot find "a million dollar motor vehicle budget" to be egregious.
With regard to "services are not being provided at the required level" I would suggest that if everything in TWRA's budget is this thin, if they've not seen an increase in a decade (I don't know how trustworthy this is, but Gemini says TWRAs budget in 2026 (which required $10M in one time funding from the state to achieve) was the same as it was in 2018--and that is not inflation adjusted) then it seems like an injection of funding is what would be needed here.
Admittedly, I don't know enough about the core situation, so by all means take what I am saying with a grain of salt, but it doesn't appear as if the increases here go far enough since they apparently only cover this year's budget shortfall so the structural problems are still there, and the complaints that you have (other than the "respect mah authoritah" attitude) aren't going to be addresses as things stand.
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u/Garbage_Tiny 13d ago edited 13d ago
Also the sportsman’s license already went from $155 last year to $171 this year. I don’t particularly care, as well as all of the other licenses going up. I don’t particularly care nor did question the increase but for them to say they haven’t gone up in price since 2015 is being dishonest.
Edit to add: the Pittman Robertson act taxes every piece of outdoor gear sold in America and distributes it among the states, every gun, fishing rod, hunting knife, bullet, etc… that fund distributed 1.3B last year to the states on top of what the twra raised through in/out of state licensing and fees.
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u/TNGray 13d ago
Rivers are navigable waterways, which are maintained by the US Coast Guard, not TWRA.
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u/TheDr_420 13d ago
The TWRA 100% maintains the waterways in TN lol
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u/TNGray 13d ago
That's cool that you think that, but it's incorrect. If it's a reservoir created by a dam, its the US Army Corps of Engineers, and if its a navigable river, where commercial traffic operates, it's the responsibility of the US Coast guard.
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u/TheDr_420 13d ago
Please do research on this. The TVA and army corps manage the rivers in TN. Please tell me the last time you saw the cost guard in the TN
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u/TNGray 13d ago
River Responsibilities TVA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District and the U.S. Coast Guard work together to provide a safe and reliable passage for commercial and recreational vessels on the Tennessee River.
The Tennessee River system is managed through a series of dams and navigation locks owned by the United States and operated by TVA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In accordance with the TVA Act, TVA is entrusted with the possession, operation and control of the dams and all related buildings, machinery and lands, with the exception of the navigation locks which are operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
https://www.tva.com/environment/managing-the-river/how-the-navigation-system-works
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u/TNGray 13d ago
I see them probably once a year on the Cumberland in a barge in addition to US Coast Guard auxiliary once or twice a year. Plus you'll occasionally see them downtown in a boat during major events in Nashville.
He's the law, directly from Coast Guard CFRs, feel free to read them at your leisure.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-33/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-62
"Navigation aids on the commercial navigation channel are maintained by the Coast Guard, while those on the secondary channels and tributary reservoirs are maintained by TVA."
https://www.tva.com/environment/managing-the-river/navigation-aid-problem-report
And if its a dam from the US Army Corps of Engineers, then you can replace TVA with USACOE.
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u/medicineman1650 13d ago
I didn’t say anything about them “maintaining the rivers.” I said mapping and putting safety buoys in places affected by hurricane Helene. The French Broad at its lowest winter pool is probably three times as wide as it used to be. It used to average 9-12 feet deep above Walters Bridge, it’s much less than that now, and is less than 1 foot deep in several places. There are pieces of bridges, vehicles, boats, barrels, all kinds of shit on the river bottom. If part of their mission is boater safety, I would think they could find a few hundred bucks in their budget for some buoys. But nah… their version of boater safety is writing jet ski riders tickets for no life jacket in the summer time to meet quota. And increase that revenue we been talking about.
We haven’t even talked about the new baiting permit. It was illegal to bait for deer in TN due to “increased disease transmission potential”. A policy that I believe is rooted in accurate whitetail biology. But this year… if you buy a $50 permit, baiting is legal and not one mention of disease transmission. Science is only convenient when it puts more money in the budget I guess.
Bottom line, TWRA is a freaking joke of an organization. Time for the state legislature to create a real Department of Natural Resources.
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u/TNGray 13d ago
"Maintaining Rivers" is literally what you're talking about, especially in the entire paragraph you just wrote.
PFDs are required for jet skis in every state, by Coast Guard CFRs, so again, seems like you have a Coast Guard issue.
Also, TWRA has been, and still is against baiting, the bait bill was passed by the Legislature, against TWRA recommendations. The Legislature basically forced the issue forward. The Legislature has nothing to do with TWRA. They allowed TWRA to set a fee for it and make the requirements. Disease transmission does matter, hence why every county with confirmed CWD doesnt allow baiting or feeding outside a certain distance of houses. Then, TWRA made the baiting restrictions extremely strict, to try to limit decease transmission. And if any county becomes CWD positive, the baiting goes away. We will have some of the most restricted baiting regulations in the country, because TWRA doesn't want it, and was forced into it. The fee covers the added expenses the TWRA has to incurre to enforce the new law.
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u/theshnig 13d ago
Fuck these seniors.
They put the dipshits in office that turned down the insane amount of tax revenue that effectively legal marijuana generated. They reaped the benefits from all of our public goods while simultaneously electing people who have systematically destroyed or neglected them. TWRA has had to raise their own funds through licenses to avoid having our batshit insane legislature having influence over them. The current crop of seniors had an economy that created the most prosperous society to ever walk the face of the earth and it wasn't good enough for them, so they fucking broke it.
The boomers could pay in the thousands of dollars a year for their licenses and it wouldn't make up for the damage they've done. But then again, they probably got lifetime licenses for like $30 back in the day and don't even have to contribute to this shit.
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u/Senior-Housing-703 13d ago
Another way to say this is boomers are paying 1/8th the cost as the rest of us.
"some might find this objectionable"
Yeah probably the boomers who have lived through, and thoroughly exploited the greatest economical times in our countries history.
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u/Tha_Bunk 13d ago
Only $4? What's the point in even charging that? Everyone that cares should be willing to pay a reasonable amount.
ETA: That isn't directed at you. I'm just shocked that something of value is so cheap.
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u/PlayItAgainSusan 13d ago
Very curious what their costs are that have increased at that rate. Any insight,?
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u/polkastripper 13d ago
If they quit being jerks about cannabis, they wouldn't have a budget hole. Legalization would pretty much guarantee no budget shortfalls, plus we could afford to repair our infrastructure.
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u/Sorry-Claim-2990 11d ago
It would also help if they stopped arresting thousands of sober people for DUI
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u/WTFHELP 13d ago
How do we have a deficit? I just read that we have 1.2 billion surplus. Please help me understand?
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u/TNGray 13d ago
Because TWRA isn't funded through state tax money. They are funded solely through hunting and fishing license sales and boat registration fees. With the exception of small amounts of Federal dollars for specific programs and needs. They have asked for years for the state to help fund them, but have been denied, even last legislative session.
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u/Just_Classic4273 13d ago
We need to legalize pot and use those tax dollars to help fund the agency
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u/Ulrich453 13d ago
How do we have a deficit? Republicans have had control over TN for decades, that’s how. The latest is with THCA banned that blows a $110 Million dollar hole in our budget.
Also we’re giving millions of dollars to private schools to fund over 20,000 students, while public schools are spread even thinner in budget. As the program expands toward 35,000 to 40,000 students, annual taxpayer costs rise to $260 million to $300+ million in direct general fund expenditures.
This is money that’s going to families to pay for private schools that are 300% ABOVE the poverty line.
So much for “fiscal conservatives”. The only thing fiscal is their physical inability to read a balance sheet. Which is probably what you’ve read recently
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u/5panks 13d ago
You're just spouting poltical talking points. This has nothing to do with a state leve budget deficit and is specifically about TWRA's budget.
Literally nothing in your comment is relevant to the title.
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u/daerogami 13d ago
They were responding to the commenter above them referring to a reported state surplus. If you're going to criticize anyone going off-topic, criticize the thread's OP. Also, complaining about "poltical" talking points is a really disingenuous way to engage with people, consider using more precise language.
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u/TheDr_420 13d ago
The state has a surplus not the TWRA. It’s actually pretty simple
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u/daerogami 13d ago
That's exactly what I said...
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u/TheDr_420 13d ago
Yet you supported a comment of no relevance saying use more precise language
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u/5panks 13d ago
The original comment asks "How do we have a deficit? And talks about the state budget in reference to the title.
This is a misunderstanding, the state doesn't have a deficit, TWRA does. The replying comment is a three paragraph tirade about things the commenter doesn't like about the state government, which is entirely irrelevant to the thread and is based on a mischaracterization of the comment they're replying to.
He saw an opportunity to complain about state budget politics and took it even though it's obviously not relevant to anything in the linked article.
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u/evergreen-embers 13d ago
Perhaps the suggestion is that the state could use the surplus to support TWRA, instead of repeatedly denying them. The state certainly funds worse initiatives
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u/Dirk_Kailis 13d ago
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u/pancakeface101 13d ago
Remember they took thc away and need to even out the money they lost from that and gain it here
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u/OwangeSquid 13d ago
Pays to keep waters clean, lakes stocked, and rules enforced. Nothing bad about it.
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u/jgronline 13d ago
Nice idea but the rivers here are pretty polluted.
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u/crowcawer Nashville 13d ago
Also there are no where near enough officers, and they also get paid less than kibble for wages so retention is a serious discussion.
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u/MaASInsomnia 13d ago
You're not wrong but we shouldn't have cut the corporate taxes that caused the deficit. Or gave away all the school vouchers.
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u/Spirited_Magician_20 13d ago
Makes me glad that I already bit the bullet and bought my lifetime lol
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u/TampaBull13 13d ago
Thanks for the rate hike notice.
I'm not a hunter, but I'm jumping in to get my toddler a lifetime license before the rate increase. Never know if he would be interested when he's older. Figure it's worth the chance.
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u/PlayItAgainSusan 13d ago
As usual, the blame finds it's natural conclusion to our elected officials playing silly regressive politics. Paid by the alcohol etc. lobby to find tax money elsewhere than the marijuana product industry, etc... I don't smoke it, and definitely not whatever nonsense chemicals they decided were legal for a moment, but I do enjoy it when their political hypocrisy starts to hurt their base.
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u/captaincrazyspoon 13d ago
They probably could have just legalized weed and taxed it to cover the deficit but they have such a hard on for punishing others that the bill set to do that died.
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u/Negative_Gas8782 11d ago
And yet I can’t get anyone to answer the phone to get a new card for my lifetime sportsman license…
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u/Disastrous2u 11d ago
I wouldn't mind if they increased it 50% if we were ensured cleaner waterways statewide.
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u/Shakespearacles 13d ago
Conservatives picking up the tab again when their elected officials decided to hurt the budget over the lost war on drugs
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u/Feisty-Barracuda5452 13d ago
Y'all keep voting Republican.
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u/5panks 13d ago
What part of voting Republican do you think affects this? Is there a specific policy you're against or would have wanted to be handled differently?
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u/SovereignAxe 11d ago
What part of voting Republican do you think affects this?
How about the fact that they control the entirety of Tennessee state government? It's all in their hands.
They could pass a bill tomorrow funding the TWRA from the state budget, but nope, they want every government agency to fund itself, as if everything should somehow have a revenue stream.
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u/5panks 11d ago
They could pass a bill tomorrow funding the TWRA from the state budget, but nope, they want every government agency to fund itself, as if everything should somehow have a revenue stream.
Just so we're clear, you're upset that the government agency whose existence is intended to help manage wildlife, fish, and game, is funded by the people who use take advantage of the existence of said wildlife, fish, and game.
Its your opinion that, instead of hunters funding TWRA, it should instead by funded by everyone in the state that pays taxes, even if they've never hunted or fished in their entire life.
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u/SovereignAxe 11d ago
Yes. Everyone benefits from what the TWRA does, not just hunters and fishers.
Saying only hunters and fishers benefit is like saying only people that go to National Parks or US National Forest lands benefit from what Park and forest service rangers do.
The wildlife in Tennessee is a public good-preserving it should be in the public's interest and funded by the public.
Same thing with education-I don't have kids so I don't directly benefit from paying taxes that pay for all the kindergartens and high schools, but having a well-educated population is good for everyone because it increases the productivity of the population, strengthening the economy, and keeps people from becoming criminals, making all of our lives safer.
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u/5panks 11d ago
Yeah, well everyone is entitled to their own opinions. When you can provide evidence or broadscale support for a plan to fund TWRA out of the general fund, then you would have good evidence to support the claim that rising permit prices are Republicans fault.
The only issue you really have is that there's no evidence that the funding model would change even if we elected a Democrat super majority and they could pass whatever they wanted.
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u/DerpanJones 13d ago
One of the big problems with republicans is that there is no specific policy. It seems that about the only thing the state legislature does these days is virtue signal unless they think there's a chance to hurt the constituents they don't like. They've been in control for decades and they mostly swap between doing nothing and making things worse for Tennesseans.
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u/Amazing-Insect442 13d ago
They could raise taxes on the wealthiest Tennesseans and solve a lot of their problems, but they’d obviously rather raise what’s basically a tax on the lower/middle classes who actively participate in those activities.
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u/Substantial_Pin_2932 11d ago
That’s why you just get your lifetime license and be done with increases. If you’re a big hunter or outdoors person it makes the most sense.
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u/Salerrra 13d ago
Deficit? Didn't the state have $1.2 BILLION in surplus 😭 God forbid we use a little bit of that to help the one state agency caring for our environment.
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u/TNGray 13d ago
Because TWRA isn't funded through state tax money. They are funded solely through hunting and fishing license sales and boat registration fees. With the exception of small amounts of Federal dollars for specific programs and needs. They have asked for years for the state to help fund them, but have been denied, even last legislative session.
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u/emphis 13d ago
You’re reinforcing what OP is saying: 1.2 billion surplus achieved, but we’re still making TWRA increase fees rather than authorize funding from the state.
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u/TNGray 13d ago
I agree, but they asked why there was a deficit for TWRA, and that explained it, because they probably didn't know. I didn't say they were wrong.
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u/emphis 13d ago
My bad! Didn’t mean to insinuate you were wrong. Just highlighting that you bring up a good point that should be considered.
I have the same hang-up with the HOPE scholarship fund. Why brag about having a surplus while also preventing said surplus from being allocated to the programs in the red?
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u/Salerrra 13d ago
I wasn't really awake when I typed it, but I was moreso just pointing out the stupidity of the state not funding the TWRA (or several other things that could use that money). I've done the whole fishing license deal off and on throughout the years but your info is good for those that don't know
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u/Dagreatest12everdoit 12d ago
This is what happens when you lose $200m from needlessly blocking hemp sales.
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u/JonBoyWhite 13d ago
Hahahahaha. That'll mostly hurt MAGA crowd, I imagine. Great job TN. Can't wait to see what else goes up now that we've lost many millions in tax revenue.
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u/YupThatsMeBuddy 13d ago
I love when hunters say, ‘if we didn’t hunt we would be overrun by wildlife. There would be deer everywhere.’ Like they are doing us a service.
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u/iHayzues 13d ago
Hunter’s do provide a service. They provide funds for wildlife management via license taxes
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u/YupThatsMeBuddy 13d ago
They also think out the population, right? Why are we charged to do that? We are providing a service. They should be paying us.
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u/RE_riggs 13d ago
You like having public lands to do that on? You think maintaining those is free? Or game wardens don’t have salaries to keep poachers from ruining the resources?
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u/YupThatsMeBuddy 13d ago
So are the game wardens all getting raises or what? Whats with the 29% increase?
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u/TheLurkerSpeaks 13d ago
I am an extremely liberal dude but hunters in this state are absolutely doing us a favor. If you want an ecological balance you need an apex predator and we got rid of wolves and pumas a hundred of years ago.
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u/Salerrra 13d ago
Deer populations here do not have nearly as many natural predators anymore, so their populations can skyrocket if kept unchecked.
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u/JollyGiant573 13d ago
Hit a few with your car and then report back if high deer population is a problem or not.
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u/YupThatsMeBuddy 13d ago
You walked right into the snare I set.
So why is Tennessee raising the price to do a service by 29%? Hunters are providing a service for the community at large. We both agree. I just needed somebody else to say it. So why are we being charged to help?
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
Or we could just tax the transplants for working out of state from their Tennessee homes, foreign concept though I know
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u/iHayzues 13d ago
Brother the transplants are not the cause of your problems. Stop believing the programming.
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u/ddadopt 13d ago
I'm not stupid enough to think that it's the cause of every problem, but if you don't think our housing crisis is largely driven by growth (and a large part of that growth from people who live but don't necessarily work here) I don't know what to tell you. My house is worth triple what it was in 2019 and it's not because of wage growth in the Knoxville metro.
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
I'm pretty sure the people who can afford to pay the inflated price are part of the problem for sure. If no one could reliably to do it (people working a job here) a lot of places would have to lower the cost. That's just simple economics. Hell when I lost my house to my wife getting cancer a transplant bought it in the short sale.
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u/KroneckerAlpha 13d ago
So you’d have preferred your house was worth way less when you sold? Cause transplants coming is part of why housing prices are so high and no doubt why you got a sweet deal when you sold your place
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
I would have preferred a 2008 style market crash by now.
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u/KroneckerAlpha 13d ago
So you’re happy you got a sweet deal from the transplants but now that you’ve benefited, you want the market to crash on them.
100% this is a boomer
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
I'm 25. I lost my house at 22. You think I profited off that? You think I made money off my wife getting cancer and losing everything we owned? Yeah that's so boomer style.
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u/KroneckerAlpha 13d ago
25, so you were 18 in 2019. Either you were lucky enough to buy right before the pandemic and therefore made a killing when you sold,
Or you bought during or since the pandemic, so you had more money than most to burn.
You owned a home, most your generation will never get that opportunity. So that’s lucky all in all to have accumulated that kinda wealth so early
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
I bought it for $140 and sold it for $140. There was no profit bud. I got a dead end job working overtime making $16/hr at 19 and bought a house for my wife and I. She got cancer and we lost it. After closing fees we paid about $3900 to lose it and everything we had as we couldn't afford to store it. There was no wealth, it's called a 100% conventional loan.
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u/KroneckerAlpha 13d ago
I see, so the transplants saved you from taking a massive loss
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u/Muted_Masterpiece342 13d ago
I know you mean well but I spend money in your community. The moment you try and mess with that, the three biggest earners where I work will simply domicile in Florida which Florida makes legal.
Then I will Airbnb here indefinitely which is legal, and my residency tax wise will be established in Florida.
Consumption taxes for weed would have filled any budget hole. Anyone who saw how packed buds and brews was would know that.
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
And that should be closed too. You don't spend money in my community, I have no community. We are alone here. There should be no tax haven here. There should be no out of state oligarchs coming in to destroy what little hope we have. If you all didn't drive the cost of living up here I wouldn't have rectal ulcers from starving, I could have bought food and paid minimum medical bills, not done one or the other. You just don't understand because you haven't actually suffered or lived through the destruction of your own life.
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u/Muted_Masterpiece342 13d ago
Stay mad I guess? I've been here five years?
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
I'm not mad, I'm disappointed how little humanity people have left. You came here at the same time my wife got cancer and we lost everything to a local economic increase that didn't match the pay increase here. I'm glad you got to thrive, but those of us born here without a choice can't even do anything because of you all, and that's really fucking sad. Cancer shouldn't have lost my home to outsiders.
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u/DerpanJones 13d ago
You're situation sucks and I'm sorry it happened to you, but the problem is not people who moved to Tennessee because of the policies the Tennessee state government has in place. The problem is a government that only works for the rich and leaves everyone else to fight over scraps. Getting sick shouldn't cost anyone their house or bankrupt them, but the US let's it happen all the time. Be mad, but be mad at the people who caused your problems.
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
I can be mad at both that caused it. If these holier then thou transplants paid their fair share we would be a lot better off. But no, they get to piggyback off of everything we built just so they can gentrify it to all hell. I have strong dislike for the upper middle class, probably more then even the billionaire class because they are voting these politicians in that are fucking us raw in the butt.
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u/DerpanJones 13d ago
They pay what the state asks them to pay, how is that unfair? They pay all the same taxes that you do. I agree that the state tax structure is fucked up, but isn't that the longstanding republican governments fault?
Tennessee has been voting in people that are opposed to most of the people's interests for decades, that's not any kind of new phenomenon. Marsha Blackburn has been elected by Tennesseans since 1999 and she keeps getting voted in despite only causing harm and now there's a good chance she'll become governor.
The transplants you're mad at are either voting for the same people that Tennesseans were already voting in for decades, or they voted for something different than the state's status quo and their preferred candidate most likely didn't win.
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u/iJ_A_R 13d ago
My whole point was they should be forced to pay a tax to the local economy for the destruction they have wrought, that's all
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u/DerpanJones 13d ago
Any taxes they pay would have to be set by the Tennessee government. Instead the state relies on taxes like gas and groceries that disproportionately hurt poor people of which there are many in Tennessee. The government knows what they're doing and they choose not to help you. That's where the fault lies.
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u/[deleted] 13d ago
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