If you’ve purchased anything in the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, or Sevierville areas you know that we have a fairly abusive sales tax. Even essentials are taxed at the same high rate. Whether you eat out or purchase your food in a grocery store, whether you buy clothes or medicine, every purchase has a 9.25% sales tax added to the amount. Services generally aren’t taxed but that is about the only purchase you can make that isn’t taxed at all. The only exceptions for items you purchase are for major transactions like automobiles and real estate which have their own significant transfer taxes attached. I occasionally hear visitors to our area complain about the sales tax they have been forced to pay in addition to the price of the items they have purchased.

Why, you ask, do I say that I love our sales tax? The reason is very simple. While visitors to the area won’t help pay my very low real estate taxes (still some of the lowest in the nation) or my affordable corporation taxes due to the state and county annually, they DO share the burden of our rather onerous sales tax. In fact, the only reason why Tennessee does not have a state income tax and why our real estate taxes here in Sevier County are so low is BECAUSE of the revenue generated by that pesky sales tax.

I am grateful for the wise choice that our leaders have made to allow the 12 million or so visitors to the area help keep taxes low for those of us who live here. If you like the idea of a very low real estate tax, no state or local income tax, very affordable vehicle registrations, mild climate, our spectacular scenery, and all the other benefits of living in Sevier County, please contact me. We can help you find the perfect real estate here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee to call home. Then you too can smile when you hear someone complain about that nasty Tennessee sales tax…