This month’s “Not Enlightened” Award goes to the Tennessee Democratic Party for scheduling their state fundraiser on February 2, 2002 at 7pm. That is the exact same time the Vanderbilt Lady Commodores are hosting the University of Tennessee Lady Vols for what has traditionally become a “take your daughter” event. Would the Tennessee Democrats host an event honoring Vice President Gore at the same time as a Vanderbilt/Tennessee football game (i.e. male sport)? I think not. To quote a friend of mine, who is a very prominent Democrat, “ The Republicans should be happy. Scheduling events like this is why the Democrats cannot win statewide elections and is in the shape it is in today.”

Of course, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party deserve pointed criticism for their failure to produce any women as candidates for statewide office this year. The six serious candidates for Governor, Bredesen, Henry, Hillary, Sanders, Smith and Womack all have something in common – lots of testosterone. They are all men.

Neither party can claim any credit for leadership on implementing a realistic budget. Instead, many of our politicians simply respond that the problems are either spending or raising revenue. Obviously, it is a combination of both. Other than a very few legislators, there have been no “profiles in courage” on this issue. Instead, the airwaves are once again full of demagoguery and again, our elected leaders are playing hide and seek in the smoke filled Legislative Plaza rather than working on the people’s serious business i.e. tax reform.

Discussing taxes is not as sexy an issue as building roads, providing jobs, expanding health care or improving public education. That is why you will not see the front runners for the governor’s race nor most of the state legislature expounding on the virtue of tax reform during this year’s elections.

Do taxes affect women any differently than men? Is tax reform a gender issue? Based on my personal experience and contacts with women all over the city I would say the support for an income tax is pretty evenly divided. About half the women I know are in favor of passing an income tax and the other half is adamantly and very vocally opposed to any sort of tax change. I have noticed that my women friends who are active politically who are in favor of passing an income tax are very quiet and reserved about changing Tennessee’s tax structure whereas their counterparts are loud and clearly opposed. Why is that?

As I write this column the state’s political leadership met this week at the Governor’s residence to discuss in private what tax strategies or spending priorities to pursue in this year’s session of the state legislature.

It is sort of like the flavor of the week. Every time you turn around the favorite proposal for tax reform has changed from income tax to flat tax to state property tax to sin taxes to sales tax. The leading contenders this month are an increase in the state’s sales tax of up to one cent.

In Nashville/Davidson County that would mean a sales tax of 9 and 3/4 percent or almost 10 cents on the dollar! Do you think some sales may decrease or businesses in Tennessee may lose more and more sales to the Internet? Even worse that means all of us could end up paying a tax of 10 cents on every dollar spent on clothes, food and school supplies for our children. At the same time there is no sales tax on legal services, other professional services and farm equipment. Hardly seems fair and definitely warps our social and political priorities. Think maybe the lawyers, doctors, architects and farmers have lobbyists and mothers trying to raise a family do not?

I confess I became a supporter of a proponent for tax reform back in 1979 when I listened to then Commissioner of Finance Lewis Donelson answer questions about the state budget to various legislative committees. It seems to me those who make the most money should not be sheltered by tax laws and instead should pay their fair share whether it is through an income tax or through taxes on their services.

The bottom line is that many people believe rightly or wrongly that the current state government is not managed well. As a result, these people believe if they pay more in taxes that the governor and legislature will not manage the money well (sort of like Enron shareholders feel today). They believe there is a lot of fat and waste in the government and that paying more taxes will go to bureaucrats instead of better delivery of the services that we pay taxes for.

As unfair as our tax structure is in Tennessee today, serious tax reform simply will not happen until our leaders convince us we can trust them with our money. Electing more women to office could change that.

Do you have a group of person you would like to nominate for my next “Not Enlightened” Award? If so, let me know.

Saralee Terry Woods is President of Bookman/BookWoman Used Books and is also President of bookmanbookwoman.com. Her email address is Saralee@bookmanbookwoman.com