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2015 Pork Report Shows $700 Million Of Taxpayer's Money Squandered

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee's infamous $46,000 dollar state logo tops the list of wasted taxpayer money in this year's Pork Report.

It's the Beacon Center of Tennessee's annual report of wasted taxpayer money covering government waste, abuse or fraud.

This past year,as the Pork Report shows, state and local governments have squandered $763 million in taxpayer money.

Leading the way this year is that famous $46,000 Tennessee logo.

"I think when taxpayers saw this they thought, well, I could have come up with this. In fact, we tested it on our own computers at Beacon and it took us about a minute and 45 seconds to create the identical logo," said Beacon Center of Tennessee CEO Justin Owen.

Other wasted spending in the Nashville area included $94,000 spent by Sumner County taxpayers to defend the school district's policy of denying e-mailed requests for public information.

In Nashville an employee with the Centennial Sportsplex was accused of stealing nearly $100,000 in checks written to the Sportsplex.

The state spent nearly $15,000 per bed for nearly 100 new double bunk beds at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison.

Governor Bill Haslam's budget includes $160 million for a building to house the Tennessee State Museum.

It's also in the report, because while $40 million comes from private donations, the rest comes from taxpayers. 

Ben Cunningham with Tennessee Tax Revolt said taxpayers shouldn't be funding a project that can be paid for by private donors.

Cunningham said, "People put millions of dollars into contributions in projects like this that benefit everybody, so the taxpayers don't need to be involved in every project."

Metro has been using tax incentives through tax increment financing also known as TIF to develop what was once a blighted downtown.

But downtown Nashville is no longer blighted.

Buildings are rising all over the place, and in many cases the developers are still getting the tax incentives.

TIF supporters say the tax breaks increase property values, which leads to greater tax revenue for services like education and transportation.

But a NewsChannel 5 Investigation showed how often a TIF is being used.

For example, the investigation found the AT&T building - also known as the Batman building - generates $1.7 million in property taxes, but Metro only gets $49,000.

The rest helped build the Omni Hotel down the street.

TIF cost Nashville taxpayers $17 million this past year.

"TIF caused Nashville taxpayers $17 million this past year. With every single dollar generated by big projects like the Batman building, our state's largest building, going right back into other developers pockets rather than to fund education, safety roads and other projects," said Owen.    

Not only does this think tank point out government waste, but it also makes suggestions to cut down on abuse of taxpayer dollars.

This year they recommended a total repeal of the Hall Income Tax.  Also, lawmakers should enact a law that if tax revenues exceed estimates lawmakers would be required to return the surplus to taxpayers. Finally, establish a state spending commission of business executives and private sector volunteers to analyze the entire state budget for waste and to find ways to save taxpayer dollars.

You can see the full report Pork Report here.