Tennessee’s Department of Revenue has officially released the names of businesses that received tax refunds due to the franchise tax reform bill passed last year.

Republicans said at the time that the reform was necessary to avoid a costly lawsuit, but did not disclose more details. The tax refund created a $400 million recurring loss to the state budget.

It was also unclear what companies would benefit from the reform – until now.

The Governor’s own family business, Lee Company, received an undisclosed amount of money greater than $10,000. It is one of more than 15,000 companies to receive higher than that amount.

Other notable recipients include CoreCivic, the Brentwood-based private prison company which operates facilities in Tennessee and is one of the largest political donors in t

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