Drop in Income Tax Receipts Is a Glimpse of Future Trouble
Five months into Kentucky’s experiment in reducing the individual income tax rate, the verdict is unsurprising. Cutting the rate is...
Facts Don’t Support Economic Argument for Proposed Federal Prison in Letcher County
In the wake of last year’s devastating eastern Kentucky floods, the federal government reintroduced a previously defeated proposal to build a new Bureau of Prisons (BOP) prison and “prison camp”...
How Kentucky Can Combat the Growing Scourge of Child Labor
Nearly 100 years after President Franklin Roosevelt called child labor an “ancient atrocity” and took action to abolish it, the scourge of exploiting kids through work is back. Corporate violations...
Public Schools Are Becoming a Lower State Budget Priority
Preschool through 12th grade public education has become less of a Kentucky budget priority in recent years, according to the official analyses of enacted budgets published by the Office of...
The School Year Will Soon End, but a New Strategy to Dismantle Public Education Is Just Beginning
Public schools are at the heart of our communities, yet powerful interests have led a decades-long national effort to undermine them. Their strategy is morphing, but the ultimate goal remains...
Eroding Kentucky’s Largest Revenue Source Will Bring a Painful Reckoning
The next time the Kentucky state legislature meets, barring a special session, will be early next year when it takes on its most important job: passing a budget. The state...
State Budget Changes in 2023 Session Increase Future Risk
The General Assembly reduced future revenues substantially this session by passing House Bill (HB) 1, a law that will further shrink Kentucky’s largest revenue source by cutting the state income...
‘Transplant’ Bill Would Give Large Windfall to Companies Recruiting Remote Workers
A bill aimed at relocating higher-income remote workers to Kentucky could cost the state up to $200 million and widen inequality without necessarily drawing many people to Kentucky who aren’t...
Eastern Kentucky Needs Legislature’s Help to Address Post-Flood Housing Crisis
Catastrophic floods wreaked havoc in eastern Kentucky last July, killing 44 people and requiring 1,334 more to be rescued by boat and helicopter. The floods also destroyed or seriously damaged...
Top House Priorities Show Conflict Between Reducing Revenues and Rising Costs
The House's top priority (HB 1) in the 2023 legislative session is a bill to continue reducing the state's income tax, the source of nearly half of state revenue. Lawmakers...