Kentucky Should Learn from the Past and Not Expand Its Expensive and Ineffective Film Tax Credit
The Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee made a last-minute change to House Bill 249 to bring back a bad idea...
The General Assembly Must Resist an Expensive Double-Dip Tax Break and Instead Provide Targeted Aid to Businesses that Really Need Help
As Kentucky recovers from the pandemic and the resulting recession, it is important for state policymakers to invest in families, communities and businesses that need help to get back on...
Any Action on Proliferating Slot Machines Must Raise Artificially Low Tax Rate
A recent state Supreme Court ruling has threatened the operation of thousands of slot machines across Kentucky because they do not meet the definition of "pari-mutuel wagering” associated with the...
Defeating the Pandemic and Building a Robust Recovery: A Preview of the Budget of the Commonwealth
In the 2021 short legislative session, the Kentucky General Assembly will be tasked with crafting a new state budget for 2022. In addition to protecting Kentucky’s existing critical services, there...
Kentucky’s Inadequate and Outdated Unemployment Insurance Taxes Need to Be Modernized
As unemployment claims surged in Kentucky due to COVID-19 related layoffs, the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund was quickly exhausted. Kentucky is one of 21 states and territories that...
COVID-19 Crisis Demonstrates Need for State Improvements to Unemployment Insurance in Kentucky
Unemployment insurance (UI) is one of the most effective programs available to help laid-off workers meet their basic needs and allow economies to bounce back during downturns. As a partial...
How Kentucky Should Spend Remaining Coronavirus Relief Fund Monies
The federal government provided $1.6 billion in Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) monies to the state of Kentucky as part of the CARES Act that passed Congress on March 27th. As...
Kentucky Must Continue Momentum Reducing Jail and Prison Population
As we enter the seventh month of the COVID-19 pandemic, jails and prisons have been among the top “hotspots” for COVID-19 at the same time incarcerated individuals are among the...
Federal Relief Shored Up Kentucky’s Budget, but New Projections Raise Big Concerns About Remainder of Year
The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed Kentucky’s revenues and budget, but in the last fiscal year the impact was softened by substantial federal relief to families,...
Kentucky’s Largest Cities Spend a Quarter of Their Budgets on Police
Amid growing attention to harmful overpolicing of Black communities, many are calling on cities to begin shifting public resources away from policing toward social services, mental health, affordable housing and...