Tennessee needs the restoration of a sales tax deduction from federal taxes.  The repeal of the sales tax deduction in 1986 caused a significant gap between states that raise revenue using an income tax and those using a sales tax.  Residents in a sales tax state, like Tennessee, pay higher taxes to the federal government compared to a similar taxpayer from states that have an income tax.  This is simply unfair.

I fought hard to include a sales tax deduction for two years in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, H.R. 4520.  This bill passed the House with my strong support on June 17th by a vote of 251-178.  Members of the House and Senate are currently negotiating differences between their versions of this bill.  I have written all major parties involved in these negotiations and strongly advocated for the inclusion of the sales tax deduction within the final bill. 

Tennesseans deserve a remedy to this inequity so we keep more of our hard-earned money and not be unfairly treated in federal tax law.