Corker Following a Tennessee GOP Tradition
Despite his attempts to skirt the issue, there’s a question swirling around state political circles: Is Bob Corker the latest Tennessee Republican whose campaign goes up in smoke over a failure to pay income taxes? On Sunday, The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that incumbent Senator Bill Brock initially refused to release his income tax returns during his 1976 re-election bid. A controversy erupted over the fact that Brock paid no income tax in several years, and Democratic candidate Jim Sasser won the election. Sasser’s campaign distributed buttons that read “I paid more taxes than Bill Brock.” The News-Sentinel also pointed out that “[i]n 1986, Republican gubernatorial nominee Winfield Dunn released returns showing he paid no taxes in two years. Dunn wound up losing to Democrat Ned McWherter.”
But Corker, Brock, and Dunn are not the only Tennessee Republicans to avoid paying income taxes. A Citizen’s for Tax Justice report from 2004 noted that Saks, Inc. paid no corporate income taxes from 2001-03, “despite recording profits of $271 million during the same period.” The chief executive officer of Saks at that time was R. Brad Martin, who served as Tennessee Republican Party chairman and as a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives in the 1970’s and 1980’s. According to the Memphis Flyer, Martin held a fundraiser for Corker at his home on Monday, March 13, 2005. He also contributed $1,000 to Corker’s failed run for the Senate in 1994.
“Bob Corker is just the latest Tennessee Republican that believes he doesn’t have to pay the same taxes that hardworking Tennesseans pay,” Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Bob Tuke said. “If he doesn’t explain this, he’ll pay at the polls just like the other candidates did.”
