Refinancing KTRS Debt a Sensible Step Toward Addressing Budget Challenge
Because of the recession and subsequent shortfalls in the state’s annual contributions to the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System (KTRS), the...
Tax and Budget
Is Another Budget Shortfall in the Works?
One-third of the way through the budget calendar, the state is on track for a revenue shortfall if growth doesn't pick up for the remainder of the year. According to a...
What’s So Dangerous About Cutting Income Tax Rates
When talk turns to state tax reform, some make the claim that Kentucky’s income tax rates are an impediment to growth and need to be reduced. But there’s nothing more...
S&P Report Says Growing Inequality Harming State Budgets, Especially in States More Dependent on Sales Taxes
A new report from the credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) says that growing income inequality is making it harder for states to generate the revenue needed to fund education and...
Two Pillars of Making Work Pay: Minimum Wage Increase and a State Earned Income Tax Credit
Increasing the state minimum wage and instituting a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and are two policies that complement each other and can help working families better make ends...
Congressional Vote on Internet Tax Loopholes Could Help or Harm Kentucky’s Budget
The Senate is expected to vote soon on continuing a moratorium on state and local taxes of Internet access, and the specifics of what passes could mean hundreds of millions...
New Year-End Data Show Kentucky’s General Fund Continuing to Erode
In order to maintain investments in education, health, safety and other services that our citizens, businesses and communities rely on, Kentucky needs revenue growth that keeps pace with the economy....
Revenue Growth Will Need to Pick Up to Hit 2015 Forecast
State revenue is now expected to grow only 1.3 percent for the first three quarters of the new budget year that began in July, according to a just-released state interim...
Five Factors Behind Shrinking Revenue Growth in the Recovery
The rate of revenue growth in Kentucky’s General Fund has slowed down between 2011 and 2014, as seen in the graph below. That’s a big part of why Kentucky’s budget...
Lopsided Recovery Reflected in Which Revenue Sources Have Grown
Since declining in 2009 and 2010 because of the recession, Kentucky's General Fund revenues have grown for four straight years. But the state’s different sources of revenue have grown or...