Tax-Averse Nashville Goes Where Few Other Cash-Poor Cities Dare

  • Virus lockdown has blown wide holes in city budgets nationwide
  • Music City’s mayor sees property-tax hike as way to bridge gap
An empty bar in Nashville on April 8.Photographer: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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Nashville’s Music Row has gone quiet, its teeming hotels have emptied and its bustling restaurants, like the Capitol Grille, a fixture since 1910, are open for take-out only.

In a matter of weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has frozen the tourist-powered economy of one of the hottest cities in America. Nashville, Tennessee, finds itself staring into what Mayor John Cooper is calling its worst financial situation ever.