Well, folks, looks like we're in for another round of horn-honking at the capital. The local radio talk show hosts will whip the uninformed masses into a frenzy, getting the ones most likely to benefit from an income tax to be its biggest opponents. I do not know how Steve Gill can sleep at night. In an ideal world for Mr. Gill and his cronies, there would be no taxes that they couldn't find a loophole for, allowing them to enjoy the benefits those taxes pay for without ever paying in a cent. Taxation isn't fun, folks, but it's a necessary evil to pay for our road system, our education system, our local and state police forces, fire departments, all the things we benefit from in this great land of ours. Because the funding system for each state is independently managed, then each state must tax its citizens. Tennessee chose sales tax, a regressive form of taxation that does not meet our expenditures. Don't try to tell me that it is a fair tax - those who make very little have to spend every penny they make, and pay taxes on it. Those with money to burn don't spend all that much more than the working stiff that's getting the shaft from the system - they have the luxury of saving it, or of buying items whose price exceeds the state single-item maximum tax level. And when the economy tightens, as it has, there's less money being spent, less money being raised by taxes, and more shortfalls in the state budget. Gill and his faithful followers will scream that lawmakers should cut costs, tighten their belts, and quit trying to get more money. But someone has to foot the bill for all the infrastructure such as sewer, gas, electric for those million dollar homes in Williamson and Davidson county, Steve - if we cut the things that YOU benefited most from, you'd be singing a different tune, I'm sure. Okay, cut the budget for education -raise tuition again at the state-run schools - why should Steve Gill care? His kids won't ever set foot in the door of any state school - he can afford to send them elsewhere. Public schools? Who cares? Those with the dough send their lovely offspring to private schools. Folks, Steve Gill doesn't care about you - your problems aren't his problems. If we have fewer college graduates in our state, what does he care? He and his cronies plan on outsourcing all the business and industry that they can, in order to save their precious dollars. Like Scrooge, his opinion seems to be that if the poor would rather die than go to the poorhouses and orphanages, then "they had better do it, and thereby decrease the surplus population."