Limiting Expensive Income Tax Break for Higher-Income Retirees Is Important Part of Tax Reform
A limit on the state’s large retirement income tax break for higher-income people is an important component of tax reform,...
Research
Tax Plan Misses Opportunity to Make Overall Tax System Fairer
The combined impact of the tax increases and tax cuts in Governor Beshear's reform proposal would not help improve the regressive nature of Kentucky’s tax system, according to analysis of...
Measuring the Tax Plan Against Key Principles
Governor Beshear has released his tax reform proposal, and analysis and debate over the plan has begun. It’s important that this discussion keep in mind three principles that are needed...
Increase in Tipped Minimum Wage Is Long Overdue
Stagnant or falling real wages for many Kentucky workers threatens their standard of living and is leading to growing income inequality. One of the causes of inadequate wages is the...
Increasing Kentucky’s Minimum Wage Would Help One in Four Workers Make Ends Meet
The decline in the real value of the minimum wage for tipped and non-tipped workers has been contributing to poverty and inequality in Kentucky. Increasing the state’s minimum wage to...
Presentation: Kentucky State Budget Briefing
On January 24, KCEP held a State Budget Briefing that included a presentation describing the revenue context of the current budget situation, outlining past budget cuts and including some analysis...
Our Commonwealth: A Primer on the Kentucky State Budget
What is the Budget of the Commonwealth? Where does the money come from and for what does it pay? What are the processes by which the budget is made? The...
Governor’s Austere Budget Gives Small Bump to K-12, Cuts Funding for Many Areas
Governor Beshear's Executive Budget proposal provides a small amount of additional funding to K-12 education but not enough to fully restore the impact of six years of cuts and frozen...
Budget Preview Report: Kentucky Faces Choice of Reinvestment or Retrenchment in Next State Budget
Kentucky faces more cuts and continued underinvestment in critical services in the next two-year state budget unless lawmakers generate additional revenue, as outlined in KCEP’s new comprehensive budget preview report....
Vast Inequality in Wealth Means Poor School Districts Are Less Able to Rely on Local Property Taxes
The cuts in state and federal funding for education are hitting Kentucky's school districts hard, and many are raising local taxes in response. However, the same local property tax increase...