The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy released the following statement following the passage of the House budget:
“The House budget is a missed opportunity, with inadequate resources for areas ranging from teacher pay to child care to clean drinking water, and without any funds for pressing needs like housing and a cost of living adjustment for retirees. While the return of full funding for school transportation is a notable bright spot, the money is there for a budget that delivers on many other issues as well. Instead, the House plan adds to already overfunded idle reserves, growing them from $3.7 billion today to $5.2 billion by the end of the biennium.”
“By sitting on this money instead of using more of it to improve the lives of Kentuckians, legislators are prioritizing additional potential income tax cuts, which if enacted will go overwhelmingly to the wealthy. The budget even moves the goal posts on the legislature’s own trigger formula by suspending the law to ignore $900 million in infrastructure spending when determining whether the state’s tax cut triggers are met. That makes it possible to reduce the income tax to 3%, down from 5% two years ago, which would permanently eliminate one out of every six dollars in the state budget and jeopardize future investments in schools, health, infrastructure and other critical needs.”
“We hope the Senate will do much more to take advantage of this moment by putting forward a budget that stems the growing teacher shortage, prevents more damage to a fragile child care sector, addresses the mounting housing and clean water crisis, and prioritizes using ample available dollars to reinvest in the public services all Kentucky families and communities need to thrive.”
This statement may be attributed to Jason Bailey, Executive Director, KyPolicy
