One of the VERY FIRST actions that the newly elected Governor Haslam took upon entering office was to issue an Executive Order that tossed out income disclosure rules that required the Governor and top aides to disclose how much they earn.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported at the time:
Haslam eliminated procedures that ensure transparency in the highest elected office in the state of Tennessee in order to avoid closer scrutiny of his income. This is more or less verified by a new report published by The Commercial Appeal of Memphis which found that Governor Haslam has used a variety of tax-loopholes and government give aways to pay "an effective federal income tax rate that at times was lower than that paid by many middle-class families."The move wipes off the books former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen’s first executive order of 2003, which required the top executive branch officials to make annual reports about their total earnings.Haslam was heavily criticized during the campaign for refusing to say how much he earned from family owned Pilot, a national truck stop chain with annual revenues of about $20 billion.
Haslam draws the majority of his wealth from Pilot Flying J, a nationwide chain of gas stations, for which Haslam has never disclosed his earnings from. Haslam is not only in the top 1% of annual income earners, he is in the top 0.1% - and his out of touch policies (including union-busiting, corproate give aways and austerity budgets) are the result.
UPDATE: According to a statewide poll conducted by Vanderbilt University - a vast majority, more than two-thirds, of residents across Tennessee say they support higher taxes on millionaires as part of Tennessee's budget next year. Imagine how they feel about raising taxes on a BILLIONAIRE like Haslam - especially a billionaire who uses his money to hire lawyers to find ways to weasel out of paying his fair share, pushing the tax burden onto the hard working people of Tennessee. At least we can say this about Haslam, he is as consistent with his personal finances as he is with his policies.