Why Are Many Kentucky Jails So Crowded?
Over the past few months, Kentucky’s severely overcrowded jails have been in the spotlight. While other states have enacted significant...
Troubling Revenue Picture Emerges Due to Recent Tax Cuts
Last week, the Consensus Forecasting Group (CFG), the official body charged with forecasting revenue for the commonwealth, met to determine planning revenue estimates for the current and next four fiscal...
Year End Revenues Are Above Projections, But Concerns Remain for the Future
Kentucky ended the 2019 fiscal year with $194.5 million more in the General Fund than was expected based on the revenue estimate – a 1.7% increase compared to the official...
Further Shift from the Income Tax to the Sales Tax is Bad for Kentucky
In interviews leading up to the 2020 session, legislative leaders have expressed their desire to continue down the path of reducing income taxes and paying for the reductions by relying...
Taxing Betting Uniformly Would Generate Much-Needed General Fund Revenue
The 145th running of the Kentucky Derby was over quickly, but the revenue losses from Kentucky’s failure to uniformly tax betting already happening in the state — and to dedicate...
2019 Session Tax Round Up – More Special Interest Tax Cuts Means Less To Invest
The Kentucky General Assembly ended the 2019 session with the passage of a pair of so-called tax "clean up” bills that make Kentucky’s precarious revenue situation worse. The first bill,...
Bank Tax Break Passed This Session Was Not What Proponents Claimed
One of the surprise provisions included in HB 354 - the tax clean-up bill that morphed into a tax giveaway bill – is a $56 million tax cut for banks....
Troubling Cost, Content and Process of 2019 Tax Bill
This week, the General Assembly passed HB 354 - which started out as a bill to address unintended consequences and administrative issues with last year’s hastily passed tax bill, but...
Conference Committee Agrees to Substantial New Tax Breaks in the “Tax Clean-Up Bill” – Digging Our Revenue Hole Even Deeper
The 2019 short session is in its final days and House Bill 354 (HB 354) - the “tax clean-up” bill, the original purpose of which was specifically to address unintended...
Big Cut to Bank Taxes Is Not Cleanup
With just 3 days left of the 2019 General Assembly before the veto recess, now is the time to be concerned about the appearance of last-minute legislation to benefit special...