With the recent news that Wall Street firm AllianceBernstein will be moving its headquarters to Nashville and that the company is in discussions with the city of Nashville and the state of Tennessee on an incentive package, the Beacon Center is formally calling on the state and local government to not offer any taxpayer dollars to the company in their relocation. The company has already announced its intention to relocate to Tennessee, yet officials say discussions continue about potential taxpayer handouts.
While the Beacon Center welcomes AllianceBernstein to Nashville with open arms, it should not be on the backs of Nashville and Tennessee taxpayers. The company is leaving high-tax New York City and coming to Nashville because of our extremely favorable tax structure that includes no state income tax and the phase-out of the Hall Income Tax on stocks and bonds. Their decision to already relocate here before any incentives are awarded proves that we can attract businesses with our economic climate, tax structure, and fiscal responsibility, and that we do not need to give them the tax dollars of hard-working Tennesseans on top of that. At this point, taxpayer handouts would be nothing but window dressing.
At the very same time Nashville is booming, the city has a budget shortfall, in part because of the multi-million dollar taxpayer handouts that the city government has given to specific businesses at the expense of businesses that have been here for generations. If we can’t meet our budget at a time when Nashville is one of the hottest cities in America, what is going to happen when things start to slow down? Companies should succeed or fail based on what they offer consumers, not how much money they can get out of taxpayers. The Beacon Center wants the same low tax rate for all businesses, which is why we are calling on the state and city government to take a stand against corporate welfare.
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