This is a conversation on the Tennessee house floor led by democratic representative Brother Justin Jones from Nashville. He is awesome. The Tennessee republican politicians came for him, but they missed. Full video at the bottom of this transcript.
Note: TRP stands for Tennessee Republican Politicians in this conversation.
Jones: We are subsidizing some of the largest corporations in the history of our nation in Tennessee. The top companies employing workers who qualify for federal assistance are Walmart, McDonald’s, FedEx, Dollar General, Kroger, and Amazon.
This bill only taxes businesses that pay their CEO more than a hundred times the employee, it would increase excise taxes by 0.1%, generating more than $8 million in revenue for our state. Just a 0.1 tax increase on these businesses that are paying obscene and immoral amounts of wealth to their CEOs and paying starvation wages to their employees. It’s not about left or right, it’s a moral issue of right and wrong.
TRP: Do you believe that those folks are locked in those jobs for the entirety of their lives?
Jones: Many of them are, yes. Many people are trapped in these low-wage poverty jobs. They have a choice between paying for their groceries or paying for their prescriptions and don’t have any decision but to work at Dollar General and Walmart to try and feed their children. They are trapped in these jobs with these poverty wages. And as Dr. King said, we have a system of socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.
TRP: Back to FedEx, since you referenced them. A man that risked everything to grow a company, is he not deserving of as big a paycheck as he can get or do you just totally believe that we should ditch free market capitalism and go toward a socialist society?
Jones: What is immoral is that we as a state, are subsidizing these corporations. So it is not free market capitalism cause we as a state are paying people who are working full-time jobs. We are subsidizing their benefits as a state which is wrong. So that is not capitalism. That is socialism for these corporations where we’re giving welfare to them. Poverty wages, while their CEO makes billions. That is immoral. The people who work at Tyson, the people who work at Walmart, who got us through the pandemic, who are still struggling, while their CEOs got bonuses and the workers saw no increase in their wages, stagnant wages, that is immoral.
TRP: Why in your view, is it appropriate for the Tennessee General Assembly to decide that it knows better than the officers and directors of the corporation? What salary a CEO or any other employee ought to be paid?
Jones: It is our taxpayers who are paying for their workers to have healthcare and to have food benefits and many other social safety net programs because the corporations are paying poverty wages. We already brought into this whether we like it or not.
TRP: What I’m hearing you say is Tennesseeans, that the government is holding people, hostage. That we have them stuck.
Jones: I’m saying that these corporations have them stuck. When some of my friends like Representative Kumar were my age, Representative Reagan, when you were my age, there was greater economic mobility. We have increasing wealth and equality. Why are people my age not able to purchase a house? Why are they stuck working at Walmart? And then when they get off work, going to work at seven-eleven working these full-time jobs for part-time wages just to feed their children.
These are real stories that I’ve heard on the campaign show. Talking to people, knocking on doors, people are stuck. The price of housing is going up, and the cost of living going up. And we don’t see wages rising for anybody except the corporate CEOs. These CEOs don’t live in Tennessee. The people who work at Walmart live in our districts. The people who work at FedEx live in our district. These CEOs are living in the Cayman Islands. They’re living their best life and our constituents are suffering.
Let’s stand with our constituents, not these multinational corporations. This bill does not apply to small mom-and-pop businesses but applies to these big multinational corporations that could care less about Tennessee taxpayers.
TRP: Point of correction sir, Fred Smith, the CEO of FedEx, in fact, lives in Memphis, I visited his home.
Jones: If we wanna look at Walmart, Tyson food, but if you wanna find one example of a CEO who lives here, props to you chairman Reagan.
TRP: I feel really concerned because this is basically inspiring and creating class warfare that wants to punish success. I really feel concerned and I don’t think we should go there.
Jones: With all due respect to my friend, uh, representative Kumar, I’m not inspiring class warfare. What I’m inspiring is a system that treats all members of our beloved community with dignity cuz everyone here claims to talk about religion.
The question was about class warfare. If we look at what Jesus was challenging when he said blessed are the poor, he used the word ptochos, which means those who have been made systemically poor. And that is what I’m challenging. This to me is a moral obligation for us to care for who those who Jesus called the least of these. And so I’m not inspiring any type of warfare or violence. What I’m inspiring is a system that treats people with dignity and equality. 0.1% rate tax increase to incentivize corporations that pay their CEO a hundred times more than the average worker.
This is very meager to say that we as a state, want to help our people get off social service programs. We hear that all the time. This is a bill that is trying to start that conversation with our corporate partners. We’re not saying you gotta cap your CEO salary. If you want to pay them all this money. At least let’s not make it a hundred times more than what the average worker does. They should be part of the success as well.
I feel like your suggestion was hinting at, whether I’m calling for violence or I’m calling for unrest. What I’m calling for is a community that’s at peace with self-representative Kumar, I’m calling all of us to higher ground. This is about treating people with dignity. People in my generation gonna have the same type of America that my grandparents talked about when they talked about economic mobility. I just wanna live in a country like that and I want my children to live in a country like that. I mean, I want all of our people to enjoy a part of the fruits of the labor and not just a few at the top.
Rep. Johnson (D): Since 2017, we’ve given FedEx three big tax cuts in jet fuel and we have raised prices at the pumps for Tennesseeans three times. Those folks at the top are seeing massive tax breaks. Citizens in our state are not.
TRP: What would be the impact on Tennessee? Say FedEx decided to move. They provide a number of jobs.
Jones: This is not a bill that will hinder any economic development. A 0.1% tax increase. Again, less than 1% of multinational corporations simply say, help us compensate for what we as a state are paying. Since you’re paying poverty wages, it’s not about trying to stop any business or run them out of town. It’s simply saying that our taxpayers should not have to pay for the shortcomings of corporation. 0.1%, very meager.
Rep. Clemons (D): Economic mobility is decreasing in the United States. You know, even a college education doesn’t guarantee financial stability in this country. The American dream isn’t dead. It’s just becoming more challenging.
TRP: Government has very little responsibility when it comes to economic mobility. Tennessee is setting the bar in the entire nation. Nobody’s getting it right like we are. That means if you want to better yourself and have economic mobility, we are making it possible for you to work hard, go to school, get a certificate, and do something with yourself. There is nobody that’s a victim here unless you want to stay a victim. We’re not gonna pay the CEO salary for a person who can flip a hamburger. If you want economic mobility, it’s in your hands to do it.
Jones: It. According to a 2020 study by the Sycamore Institute, kids growing up in Tennessee are less likely to climb the economic ladder than other American children. And I can send that report to my colleagues on this committee. I’m glad we had this conversation because that’s what the purpose of this legislation was. And I don’t think it’s a victim mentality.
It is an unequal system across race, across geography. People in Tennessee are struggling and are stagnant and the pandemic exacerbated these issues. When you go to Walmart, when you go to McDonald’s, talk to the worker, and ask them why are they there. How long have they been there? What is their hope for their children and for future generations to have conversations with working-class people? I was just in Murray County this weekend and I’m gonna be traveling across the state, talking to your constituents across the state who are struggling. And I hope that we can stand together across parts of the divide and say that we wanna lift up our constituents to higher ground. Thank you.
As expected in a republican majority Tennessee house, the republicans voted no. Republican politicians do not work for you.
Full video here: