RESEARCH

To further enhance Tennessee's economy, lawmakers should look at implementing additional tax reforms. READ MORE

With Blue Oval City on the horizon, it is more important than ever for local policymakers to review and reform outdated and arbitrary zoning laws. READ MORE

In the coming months, county commissioners will be taking up school board budgets. These discussions and votes are an annual occurrence, though this year’s discussion may have a different tone than years past. Billions of federal relief dollars are set to expire in September 2024 coupled with the state witnessing declining enrollments and increased staff,... READ MORE

Beacon’s newest report, “A Dose of Free Market Medicine” compares Tennessee’s laws and regulations around pharmacists and compares it to recent reforms in other states such as Florida, Iowa, Kansas, and most notably Idaho. READ MORE

Over the past few years, educational choice programs that allow students to use a portion of their education dollars to attend schools that best fit their needs have experienced sweeping changes. By 2023, dozens of states had educational choice programs and ten states enacted universal or near-universal universal choice legislation, affording educational options to every... READ MORE

Have you ever put on a jacket or pair of pants and found a $20 bill in the pocket? Or got to the end of the month and realized you have more money left than you thought? It’s a great feeling isn’t it? You feel like you have the freedom to go and spend it... READ MORE

For at least a decade before the pandemic, Tennessee leaders have practiced conservative budgeting, keeping increases in state spending below population growth plus inflation. This saved Tennessee taxpayers billions of dollars, allowing for further pro-growth tax cuts. As the state is finally spending the last of its federal relief funds, it is more important than... READ MORE

To explore our interactive zoning map of Middle Tennessee, click here. It seems not a day goes by without another news story showcasing how housing is becoming unaffordable, especially in Tennessee. And it’s not surprising. In 2020, Tennessee became the number one state for in-migration for the first time, according to U-Haul.1 Ever since, the... READ MORE

It is absolutely imperative that parents have options for their children when it comes to public education and this report shows the benefits of charter schools in Tennessee and across the country. READ MORE

Over the past 10 months, the Beacon Center has traveled the state to listen to our fellow Tennesseans about the challenges they face. This blueprint for restoring Tennesseans’ freedoms is a direct result of that listening tour. The listening tour was comprised of multiple components, including numerous and diverse community visioning panels, focus groups, and... READ MORE

Healthcare can be expensive and complex. But Tennessee’s rules and restrictions are making it worse, often for those who can least afford care. Adopted in the 1970s, certificate-of-need (CON) laws require a government permission slip before providing most healthcare services, such as opening a new hospital or purchasing high-tech medical equipment. Imagine if every new... READ MORE

An Economic Development Roadmap from the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Council of the Beacon Center of Tennessee READ MORE

Today, the Beacon Center released its most famous annual publication, the Pork Report. As always the report shed light on hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending in Tennessee. Examples in this year’s report range from the state’s no-bid contract for contact tracing given to a company with no previous experience to the unused homeless pods the city of... READ MORE

Other than “tax increase,” few terms rile up Americans more than “red tape.” READ MORE

The cost of higher education has been a topic of debate for decades, yet the discussion has never held more of a policy focus as it does now. On August 24, 2022, President Joe Biden announced canceling $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 a year, and up to $20,000 for... READ MORE

Conservative budgeting would allow state policymakers to implement more permanent tax cuts, providing relief in a time of rising prices and fostering further economic growth and prosperity. READ MORE

Today, after months of research and open records requests, the Beacon Center released a new report showing how local school districts in Tennessee are budgeting and spending federal COVID dollars through the ESSER program. Congress allocated over $4 billion in federal taxpayer money to Tennessee school districts to address the pandemic. The data suggests that Tennessee public schools have budgeted or spent millions... READ MORE

What are the requirements for occupational licenses in Tennessee, and are they becoming more or less onerous over time? READ MORE

In direct response to students and parents who felt they had no voice in public education, nearly half of all states created, expanded, or improved educational choice programs. READ MORE

While Tennessee is generally considered a more free-market-oriented state, one area it regulates more heavily is in occupational licensing, essentially a government permission slip to do a job. READ MORE

The Beacon Center is proud to release its “recipe book” themed Tennessee Pork Report, revealing hundreds of millions of dollars in government waste, fraud, and abuse. This year’s infamous Pork of the Year “winner” was Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS). MNPS entered into an $18 million no-bid contract with Meharry Medical College Ventures which produced... READ MORE

As we have witnessed with Nashville Mayor Cooper’s recent faux pas, a misunderstanding of the state’s Truth in Taxation law can at best create confusion among taxpayers, or at worst, be used to deceive them. Additionally, while the law does prevent Tennesseans from automatically paying higher property taxes, it has clearly provided little defense against... READ MORE

If Tennessee is investing more each year in education funding, yet nearly half those dollars do not make it to the classroom, it begs the question of how public education is funded in the first place. READ MORE

If Tennessee lawmakers do commit and embark on creating the most free and innovative economy the nation has ever seen, who knows? Someday soon the Tennessee Valley will be the new Silicon Valley. READ MORE

For several decades and under the control of both Republicans and Democrats, Tennessee has been known for its fiscally conservative budgeting. Years of limited spending and low taxes have kept hundreds of millions of dollars in the pockets of Tennessee taxpayers that might otherwise have gone to government bloat. In fact, according to the Tax... READ MORE

The report examines the ways Tennessee is currently spending money and where improvement is needed. READ MORE

The Beacon Center has released a brand new research report measuring the economic and health impacts of the COVID policies of four different states. The states measured were Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Michigan and were chosen to see how states that imposed tougher economic restrictions in the name of public safety fared compared to states... READ MORE

There is hope on the horizon for rural education. READ MORE

From Memphis to Johnson City, there is no shortage of government waste in Tennessee this year. READ MORE

Since the Right to Earn a Living Act was passed in 2016, Tennessee has eliminated several licenses, but additional opportunities for reform still exist. READ MORE

School districts and educators should celebrate with parents the fact that the state is providing another educational opportunity for children in their district. READ MORE

Checks and balances should exist in order to protect citizens' liberty, even in times of crisis. READ MORE

Every year, thousands of people across the United States move to Tennessee. While their reasons may vary, many choose to live here due to state-level policies such as the lack of a state income tax, low taxes per capita, and low levels of debt. These policies are well known and their benefits well documented. While... READ MORE

State lawmakers have a unique opportunity to build on Gov. Lee’s overall deregulatory approach by codifying many of the reforms from his recent executive orders. READ MORE

This report offers the following solutions to get Nashville’s fiscal house in order: 1. Reform the Pension System 2. Reform Healthcare & Post-Employment Benefits 3. Rightsize the Government Workforce 4. Renegotiate & Reign in Corporate Welfare Deals 5. Enact a Spending Cap READ MORE

On April 13, 2020, Gov. Bill Lee announced an extension of Tennessee’s Safer at Home Order until the end of April. In addition to this extension, Gov. Lee announced the creation of the Economic Recovery Group, tasked with formulating a plan to reboot the state’s economy and put Tennesseans back to work, all while balancing... READ MORE

Today, the Beacon Center released a brand new package of 20 policy solutions focused on what policies the state of Tennessee should and shouldn’t enact moving forward when it deals with COVID-19. The suggestions relate to both public health and the economy. In terms of health, suggestions include ways to increase the number of medical professionals in the state, expand access to... READ MORE

This marks the 14th year of the Beacon Center’s Pork Report, our annual report exposing government waste, fraud, and abuse. While the Pork Report is a fun and creative outlet for our team to expose the top 25 most ridiculous instances of government spending in the past year, it is also a call to action... READ MORE

While there is no one silver bullet to improve opportunities in rural communities, this package of policy solutions is a great start to making rural communities stronger and more competitive. READ MORE

Reform of public benefit systems is a perennial topic, but often seems too big to tackle. Before we can successfully reform public benefits in Tennessee, we need to better understand who is currently receiving support in our state and more importantly, why. What changes can be made to remove barriers for Tennesseans to successfully transition... READ MORE

The American criminal justice system rests on the familiar canon that everyone is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In Tennessee, absent a first-degree murder charge, every defendant has a constitutional right to bail. This is set forth in Article I, Section 15 of the Tennessee Constitution, which provides “[t]hat all prisoners shall... READ MORE

Today, the Beacon Center of Tennessee released a new report on the state of Tennessee’s economic incentive programs and exposed major issues with many of the subsidies. Below are some of the findings discovered by the Beacon Center: Many companies that receive taxpayer money are not required to hire the number of workers promised. In fact, all 25 FastTrack agreements reviewed... READ MORE

Every child is unique, and allowing parents to customize the education best tailored for their child not only benefits that child but society as a whole. READ MORE

This brief shows that, despite calls from some for more education spending, our current priorities are completely out of line. READ MORE

On the eve of the series finale of the show Nashville, which has been canceled twice in three years and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, the Beacon Center released a new report showing the ineffectiveness of film incentives in Tennessee. READ MORE

Today, the Beacon Center of Tennessee released its long-awaited alternate transit plan for Nashville. READ MORE

Currently, prisons and probation departments are funded by headcount, creating a perverse incentive to keep as many people in the system as possible. Restructuring funding based upon outcomes would reverse this incentive. READ MORE

This update addresses the problems with the juvenile justice system in the state of Tennessee and offers reasonable and helpful solutions. READ MORE