The Tax Question: Who Pays?

Tourism spending dominates the local economy, and Ryan French says tax policy should capitalize on that strength

#Opinion • 5:30 p.m. Aug. 17, 2026

RYAN FRENCH
South Central Tennessee Tourism Association

Let’s be honest. Voting for a tax increase can be painful. I get it.

Families have budgets. Businesses are dealing with rising costs. Property owners already carry a significant share of the responsibility for funding local government and education.

But when Moore County voters consider the local sales tax referendum, I believe there is a bigger question we need to ask.

It is not simply whether a tax rate changes. It is about who carries the burden of funding our local needs.

To answer that question, we first need to understand what makes Moore County different.

Moore County Is an Intentional Destination

Across the five major categories used to measure visitor spending, Moore County ranks last in South Central Tennessee in both lodging and transportation.

Lodging accounts for less than 3% of visitor spending here. Transportation, which includes spending on gasoline, rental cars, and ride-sharing services, represents less than 1%.

For comparison, lodging accounts for approximately 16% to 40% of visitor spending in other South Central Tennessee counties. Transportation represents roughly 26% to 42%.

At first glance, ranking last in two categories may not sound like good news. When you look closer, however, the numbers tell us something important.

Moore County is a destination. People are coming here on purpose.

We do not see a great deal of pass-through spending from people stopping for gasoline while traveling somewhere else. Visitors make an intentional decision to come to Moore County, and our spending data reflects that.

Retail shopping accounts for 38% of Moore County’s visitor spending. Food and beverage accounts for 33%. Amusement and recreation account for another 24%.

Moore County ranks first in South Central Tennessee in all three categories.

This Is Visitor Spending, Not Routine Shopping

In some communities, high retail spending can be driven by people from neighboring counties coming there for groceries, clothing, and other necessities.

When that happens, it can be difficult to determine what is true visitor spending and what is simply regional shopping.

That is not what is happening in Moore County.

Large numbers of people are not traveling here from surrounding counties to buy school clothes or complete their weekly grocery shopping. They are coming here to experience Moore County.

While they are here, they spend money in our shops, restaurants, and attractions.

Zartico’s credit- and debit-card transaction data makes that even clearer.

Nonresidents account for:

• 77% of retail transactions
• 73% of restaurant transactions
• 79% of all measured card transactions in Moore County

These percentages measure the number of transactions, not the total dollar value of purchases. Even so, they show just how much of our sales activity is generated by people who do not live here.

That becomes very important when we start talking about who pays for local services.

How We Fund Education

Across Tennessee, approximately 70% of education funding currently comes from the state. That leaves roughly 30% to be funded at the local level.

In Moore County, sales tax revenue covers only about 23% of that local contribution. Property taxes cover the remaining 77%.

Statewide, sales taxes cover approximately 49.6% of the local education burden. That is 26.6 percentage points more than in Moore County.

Grundy County gives us another useful comparison because it also has a visitor-driven economy.

In Grundy County, sales tax revenue covers approximately 77% of the local education contribution. Property taxes cover about 23%.

That is almost a complete flip from the way we currently fund the local contribution in Moore County.

Sales taxes are paid by residents and visitors when they make taxable purchases. Property taxes are paid by local property owners.

In a county where nearly four out of every five measured card transactions are made by nonresidents, that difference matters.

The Referendum Is Only the Beginning

Do not get me wrong. Increasing the local sales tax cannot be the entire plan.

Moore County is in a unique position. Our visitor impact is large enough that changes in tourism development and local policy can produce real and measurable results.

My team at the South Central Tennessee Tourism Association is currently working with the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development on a hotel feasibility study for Moore County.

That study is still being developed, so the numbers are preliminary but also very conservative.

Early projections indicate that one lodging property could generate more than $100,000 in occupancy tax revenue during its first year.

That same property could potentially generate more than $50,000 in local-option sales tax revenue and upward of $130,000 in state sales tax revenue.

Those figures do not include the value of the property itself or its contribution to the local property tax base. They also do not include jobs, employee spending, or the additional money overnight guests could spend at local restaurants, shops, and attractions.

Again, the study is not complete, and projections are not guarantees. But the early numbers show why this conversation is worth having.

Real Decisions Need Real Data

For years, portions of Moore County’s tourism activity were captured under different industry and reporting categories. Because of that, the official numbers did not always show the full impact of the travel industry here.

In 2024, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, SCTTA, local leadership, and Jack Daniel’s worked together to improve how that activity was identified and reported.

That work finally gave Moore County a more accurate picture of what the travel industry contributes to our local economy.

This year, we are working with the Department of Tourist Development again through the hotel feasibility study.

It is easy to say that something would be good or bad for the local economy. Backing that opinion up with real data is another matter.

That is what we should expect before making major development or policy decisions.

We Also Need Policy Changes

There is another part of this conversation that will need to be addressed in the future.

Moore County is currently limited in the occupancy tax rate it can charge because of state laws governing Tennessee’s three metropolitan governments.

That limitation does not necessarily reflect who Moore County is today or the size of the visitor economy operating here.

Without disrupting whatever Nashville-Davidson County needs to do with its lodging taxes, I believe it is fair to ask the state to give Moore County the authority to charge an occupancy tax comparable to those available in neighboring communities, potentially as high as 8%.

An occupancy tax is paid by visitors who stay overnight in local lodging.

If Moore County can expand its lodging inventory and receive the appropriate taxing authority, visitors would have another way to contribute directly to the services and infrastructure that support their experience here.

This is a recommendation I plan to share with legislators and TNHTA during the upcoming legislative session.

Who Should Carry the Burden?

At the end of the day, however, the issue can be boiled down to two numbers:

According to the available card-transaction data, 79% of Moore County’s measured transactions are made by nonresidents.

One hundred percent of Moore County property taxes are paid by local property owners.

Local services must be funded one way or another.

The real question is how much of that responsibility should continue to fall on the people who live and own property here, and how much should be shared by the visitors who come here, enjoy what Moore County offers, and spend money in our local economy.

Ryan French is the executive director and CEO of the South Central Tennessee Tourism Association. Hotel-related figures included in this column are preliminary projections from an ongoing feasibility study and are not guarantees of future revenue.