Gang Bill Costly and Missing Effective Approaches to Supporting Youth
Too many in our state have experienced the devastating consequences of violent, sometimes gang-related crime, and our legislators understandably want...
State Tax and Budget
New Tax Breaks Are Not Free
This General Assembly, like prior ones, includes a slew of bills that would create new or expand existing tax breaks for a wide variety of people, businesses and activities. While...
Questions and Answers on Performance Funding for Higher Education
The theory behind performance based funding for higher education in Kentucky is that tying some funding for the state’s public universities and community colleges to outcomes could incentivize the institutions...
How Would the Performance Funding Proposal Impact Low-Income, Minority and Academically Underprepared Students?
We have previously written about how while a performance model could potentially promote success for all Kentucky students, depending on how it is designed, it could instead result in unintended...
What’s In the Criminal Justice Reform Bill, and What’s Not
Senate Bill 120, the bill coming out of the state’s Criminal Justice Policy Assessment Council (CJPAC), proposes some positive steps to address barriers to successful reentry often experienced by former...
Harsher Criminal Penalties Not a Proven Way to Address Heroin Problem
We all want to see Kentucky address its devastating drug problems. The issue touches individuals and families from all walks of life across Kentucky, and too many of us have...
No Need to Overinflate Pension Liabilities
Lately the governor is saying Kentucky’s unfunded pension liabilities are not the $33 billion reported by the systems’ actuaries, but a much larger $82 billion. That estimate is based on...
Will More Revenue from Tax Reform Be Real and Sustaining?
Governor Bevin suggested in his State of the Commonwealth speech that his tax plan will generate more revenue to help Kentucky pay down its large unfunded pension liabilities. Kentucky needs more...
Those at the Top Would Get More Tax Breaks, Investments Would Suffer from Shift to Consumption Taxes
The details of Governor Bevin’s study on tax reform are unknown, but there are indications the administration intends to begin shifting Kentucky away from income taxes towards sales taxes as...
Kentucky Should Not Follow Kansas Down the Income Tax Cutting Road
Four years after Kansas began its “real live experiment” cutting taxes for wealthy and powerful interests, the damaging consequences – including a deeply underfunded education system, college tuition hikes, crumbling...