No WhiteWash!

Ben Mallicote, who is running for re-election as a Kingsport Alderman made the following statement at a recent Rotary Club Debate that was moderated by candidate Dennis Phillips who is running for re-election as mayor.

“When other municipalities are seeing double-digit drops in sales tax collections, Kingsport is seeing double-digit increases,” Mallicote said.

I would like to suggest to Mr. Mallicote that he become more familiar with the city’s finances before making such a statement.  Take a look at the data below and one can see that Kingsport has not seen double-digit increases in sales tax collections.

The retail sales data is from the following link.  Tri-Cities Retail Sales Report

Using the Kingsport retail sales dollars and applying the yearly inflation percent tells a different story.  Note the “% Growth after Inflation” column below in orange tells a different story.  The year 2003 had a positive growth of 2.53% after inflation was applied.

One can say that the retail sales for Kingsport in 2001 actually meant more for the city in buying power than the current retail sales numbers.

The graph below needs no explaining and one can see that Kingsport is not as progressive as we are led to believe.

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