Kentucky Should Not Volunteer for Greater Inequality by Becoming More Like Tennessee
The effort to reduce Kentucky’s income tax – the source of 41% of state revenue – gives a big tax...
Kentucky’s ‘Booming’ Bourbon Industry Doesn’t Need Another Tax Cut
Kentucky’s bourbon and spirits industry had a banner year in 2022, with announcements of over $2.1 billion in new investments and 700 jobs created, both record highs. According to the...
Testimony on House Bill 1: Tax Cuts Benefit the Wealthy at the Expense of Everyone Else
Pam Thomas, Senior Fellow for KyPolicy, delivered the testimony below to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee on Thursday, January 5. The committee was considering House Bill 1, which would...
Sending Public Money to Private Schools Breaks Kentucky’s Commitment to Students
Ample public investment in K-12 education is essential for Kentucky’s children to thrive. But instead of committing to funding the many different components of successful public schools, including skilled teachers,...
State Must Go Beyond FEMA Aid to Adequately Address Housing Need From Eastern Kentucky Floods
The multi-colored houses on Knott County’s Rainbow Lane were reduced to rubble. Raging flood waters tossed and twisted mobile homes in Letcher County. In Hazard, an engorged North Fork lifted...
Kentucky Must Do More to Increase Flood Resilience
The catastrophic flooding that recently hit southeastern Kentucky resulted in the death of 39 people, devastated communities and destroyed many homes and buildings. The problem is not new: Kentucky has...
Most Kentucky Teachers and School Staff Start Year Without Meaningful Raises
Stagnant salaries are contributing to a growing teacher shortage in Kentucky and across the nation, as the school year begins in many areas of the state. An inadequate number of...
Personnel Cabinet Recommends Improving Compensation to Stave off State Workforce Crisis
Kentucky faces a crisis-level shortage of workers in state government. Past legislative actions resulting in poor job quality for public defenders, social workers and all other public service positions mean...
Public Resources Should Stay in Public Schools
All Kentucky children should receive a high-quality education that helps them thrive. Because such an education requires skilled teachers, up-to-date instructional materials, non-academic supports, safe learning environments, strong administrators and...
The 2022 General Assembly Passed More Bills Increasing Incarceration Than Decreasing It, and Failed to Make Other Badly Needed Justice Changes
Kentucky has one of the worst rates of incarceration in the country. Two years after a sharp decline in the Kentucky jail population due to COVID-19 policy-driven releases, the state’s...