(The Center Square) – Knoxville voters soundly rejected a proposed local option sales tax proposed by Mayor Indya Kincannon, according to Tuesday’s Tennessee election results.
The half-cent sales tax increase would have raised $47 million. Part of the money would have been used to pave 75 miles of streets and to add new sidewalks near schools. The plan included $10 million to ease what Kincannon called an affordable housing crisis in the city.
More than 61% voted against the sales tax, with 38% voting in favor of it.
Tennessee’s state sales tax is 7%. The law allows counties and municipalities to charge an additional sales tax of up to 2.75%. Knoxville’s sales tax has remained at 2.25% since 1989, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue local sales tax map. Knoxville’s neighbors – Anderson, Blount, Sevier, Jefferson and Grainger counties – have increased local sales tax rates to the maximum of 2.75%.
The sales tax would have exempted groceries.
