• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

   

  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Events
  • Job Opportunities
  • Donate

Research That Works for Kentucky

  • Topics
    • Budget & Tax
    • Criminal Justice
    • Economic Security
    • Education
    • Health Care
    • Jobs & The Economy
  • Types
    • News
    • Op-Ed
    • Research

   

  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Events
  • Job Opportunities
  • Donate

Copyright © 2021 KyPolicy Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Sitemap

Press Release

Reinstating Kentucky’s Tax on Extreme Wealth a Part of Making State Taxes Fair and Adequate

Anna Baumann | September 24, 2015

A new brief shows Kentucky is missing out on more than $25 million per year, while perpetuating unfair tax breaks for Kentucky’s wealthiest residents, by not having its own estate tax rules.

Thanks to changes in the federal tax code in the 2000s that eliminated Kentucky’s estate tax, the state has lost out on millions every year that could be used for schools, public health or other important services.

More On Budget & Tax: Does the Racing Industry Get a “Sweetheart Deal” on Taxes? This Republican Thinks So.

“Recognizing estate taxes generate revenue and make taxes fairer, many states have either decoupled from the federal changes or enacted their own, separate estate taxes,” Anna Baumann, research and policy associate at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy and author of the report, said. “Restoring Kentucky’s estate tax would generate needed resources for priorities that benefit all Kentuckians.”

Reinstating the tax would affect only a small portion of Kentucky’s wealthiest people, the report affirms, due to exemptions that hold all but the largest estates harmless. And despite what opponents claim, it wouldn’t affect the overwhelmingly vast majority of Kentucky farms or small businesses, thanks to accommodations for inheritors of family businesses.

Kentucky lawmakers have the chance to follow 11 other states and the District of Columbia to decouple from the federal changes that eliminated Kentucky’s estate tax. Three other states have also passed their own estate tax laws since the federal changes.

“A tax system that fails to generate enough resources to meet growing needs at the same time it gives big breaks to those who arguably need them the least only makes the situation worse,” Baumann said. “Restoring Kentucky’s estate tax would be an important step in the right direction.”

FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail

Primary Sidebar

Get KyPolicy news updates in your inbox

Sign Up

Sidebar

Perspectives

Kentucky Must Remove the Roadblocks to Unemployment Insurance — Our Most Important Economic Stabilizer

Many Kentuckians Face Hunger and Hardship This Thanksgiving. They Need Relief.

Kentucky Lives and Livelihoods Are on the Line with Supreme Court Challenge to ACA

Letter to Governor Beshear: Priorities for Use of Remaining Coronavirus Relief Fund Monies

Congress Can’t Go Home Without Passing a Strong Aid Package

Other Budget & Tax Items

Press Release

Does the Racing Industry Get a “Sweetheart Deal” on Taxes? This Republican Thinks So.

Press Release

Beshear Makes Another Bid to Raise Teacher Salaries, Boost Education Funding in Budget

Press Release

With Budget Talks Coming, Report Suggests New Revenue Is Needed in Kentucky

Ky. Policy

Footer

Research that works for Kentucky

433 Chestnut Street, Berea, KY 40403

Phone: 859-756-4605

General information and inquiries: info@kypolicy.org

   

Help us make the facts free and accessible to everyone. That’s how Kentucky will thrive.

Donate

  • Topics
    • Budget & Tax
    • Criminal Justice
    • Economic Security
    • Education
    • Health Care
    • Jobs & The Economy
  • Work
    • News
    • Op-Ed
    • Research
  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Contact

Get KyPolicy news updates in your inbox

Sign Up

Copyright © 2021 KyPolicy Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Sitemap

made by P&P
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you consent to the use of cookies.OkPrivacy policy