Tennessee should create an economic environment that allows workers, entrepreneurs, and businesses to thrive.
In 2024, Beacon Center traveled the state to listen to our fellow Tennesseans about the challenges they face. From our listening tour, we identified economic opportunity as one of the top policy issues facing Tennesseans.
Tennessee policymakers have passed two consecutive historic tax reforms to make our state more competitive with surrounding states. In 2025, legislators enacted protections for independent contractors, allowing them to receive benefits without jeopardizing their employment classification. To build upon this success and make Tennessee the envy of every other state, Beacon has outlined what the state can do next. Our proposals include:
- Restoration of bonus depreciation, allowing companies to write off the cost of qualified expenses (e.g., machinery purchased by a manufacturer) in the year they invest, bringing Tennessee back into conformity with the federal rate.
- Pursuit of further business tax reforms.
- Adoption of a REINS-style Act to curb excessive and costly government regulations.
- Elimination of unnecessary licensing red tape.
You can read more about expanding economic opportunity in our report, Tennessee Trends: The State of Tennessee’s Economy.
