Coalition Letter to Kentucky General Assembly: End the Tax Break on Slot Machines
Dear Kentucky Legislators, In September, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “historical horse racing” (HHR) slot machines do not...
Budget & Tax
General Assembly Should Strengthen the Recovery by Approving Much-Needed Relief
The 2021 Kentucky General Assembly will reconvene in early February, and the remaining piece of essential business is agreement on a new state budget. The legislature faces a choice: deploy...
Governor’s Budget Increases Funding for Relief and Reinvestment
Governor Beshear proposed a budget that uses $613 million in extra revenues created because of federal stimulus to provide targeted relief to families and businesses hurting from the pandemic, protect...
Any Action on Proliferating Slot Machines Must Raise Artificially Low Tax Rate
A recent state Supreme Court ruling has threatened the operation of thousands of slot machines across Kentucky because they do not meet the definition of "pari-mutuel wagering” associated with the...
Defeating the Pandemic and Building a Robust Recovery: A Preview of the Budget of the Commonwealth
In the 2021 short legislative session, the Kentucky General Assembly will be tasked with crafting a new state budget for 2022. In addition to protecting Kentucky’s existing critical services, there...
Kentucky Must Remove the Roadblocks to Unemployment Insurance — Our Most Important Economic Stabilizer
The torrent of job losses Kentuckians have experienced because of COVID-19 has thrown an unprecedented number of households into turmoil. As paychecks have disappeared, unemployment insurance has been a critical...
Kentucky’s Inadequate and Outdated Unemployment Insurance Taxes Need to Be Modernized
As unemployment claims surged in Kentucky due to COVID-19 related layoffs, the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund was quickly exhausted. Kentucky is one of 21 states and territories that...
Letter to Governor Beshear: Priorities for Use of Remaining Coronavirus Relief Fund Monies
On October 9, 2020, the undersigned groups submitted the following letter to Governor Beshear. Dear Governor Beshear: Thank you for your leadership and actions to save lives and limit the...
How Kentucky Should Spend Remaining Coronavirus Relief Fund Monies
The federal government provided $1.6 billion in Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) monies to the state of Kentucky as part of the CARES Act that passed Congress on March 27th. As...
Federal Relief Shored Up Kentucky’s Budget, but New Projections Raise Big Concerns About Remainder of Year
The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed Kentucky’s revenues and budget, but in the last fiscal year the impact was softened by substantial federal relief to families,...