New Tax Expenditure Report Obscures Growing Costs
The Office of State Budget Director (OSBD) released the Tax Expenditure Report for the 2018-2020 biennium late last month. The...
Film Industry Tax Credits are Growing Rapidly and Pose a Significant Threat to State Revenues
In a recent important article, the Lexington Herald-Leader examined the proliferation of Kentucky’s film industry tax credits. The state’s law allowing the credits was amended in 2015 to reduce the...
Small Tax Breaks’ Costs Add Up Over Time
Cleaning up expensive tax breaks is essential if we are going to invest in a stronger Kentucky and restore funding to our pension systems. The biennial Tax Expenditure Analysis (i.e....
Four Added Concerns About Kentucky’s Fiscal Outlook
The fact Kentucky has a severely underfunded pension system and that Gov. Matt Bevin plans to call a special session on the issue has been widely publicized. So has the...
TIF Creep Means Growing Costs, Less Accountability
Click to view as a PDF Tax increment financing (TIF) is a common method for financing economic development that uses increased tax revenues after property is redeveloped to help pay...
Angel Investor Tax Credit Program is an Overly-Generous Subsidy for Wealthy Investors
Kentucky’s angel investor tax credit program is touted as a way to encourage investment in start-up companies. But because it is overly generous to investors, fails to target start-ups exclusively...
The Impact of the 2017 General Assembly on the Kentucky State Budget
Click here to view as PDF. The just concluded 2017 legislative session was not a budget session. However, the General Assembly passed a number of bills that will have an...
Charter School Legislation Passes, But Questions and Concerns Remain About Funding
The Kentucky General Assembly gave final approval to charter schools in the waning days of the 2017 legislative session after heated and lengthy debate in both chambers. The approval came...
Layers of Concern in Funding for Charter Schools
There are many reasons to be concerned about funding for charter schools as proposed in HB 520. Local public school districts could lose control of a number of different resources...
Funding Concerns Persist in New Charter Bill
House Bill 520 is a very different charter school proposal than the previously introduced HB 103. While some concerns we previously expressed about charter authorizing authority in HB 103 have...