Kentucky Can Do Better!
Low Income Families Removed from Kentucky Income Tax: A Report on the 2005 Kentucky General Assembly from KFTC's Balancing the Scales:
Individuals and families with poverty-level incomes will no longer be subject to Kentucky income taxes thanks to legislation passed by the Kentucky General Assembly. The low-income exemption — one of the top legislative goals of the Kentucky Economic Justice Alliance and KFTC —became part of the tax reform package during negotiations in the House. "Getting the low-income exemption, that was huge,” said KFTC Chairperson Janet Tucker.
See the full article on the contributions that grassroots citizens made to this important victory.
Tax Reform 2005
The tax measures passed by the Kentucky General Assembly have some wins and some loses for Kentucky's working families. On the very positive side an estimated 300,000 low-income people will no longer owe state income taxes, and families making up to 33% above the poverty line will have their taxes reduced. Also positive is the elimination of the dangerous "trigger mechanism" and major loopholes corporations have used to avoid paying state taxes.
On the negative side, the plan is “revenue neutral” and trades cuts in corporate and income taxes for an increase in the cigarette and other consumer taxes, making Kentucky’s tax system even more regressive. Louisville Democrat Rep. Jim Wayne said he was voting for the measure only because it would take so many of the working poor off the rolls. Otherwise, he said, it is "a tax bill that does nothing to fix our Medicaid crisis, our public school funding shortfalls or the tuition inflation our college and university students face."
Read an analysis of the tax bill
Budget, Tax Plan Fail to Address Kentucky's
Revenue Crisis
From KFTC's Balancing the Scales: The final budget passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Fletcher increases Kentucky's debt and falls short of generating sufficient revenue to meet the needs of education and services within the Commonwealth. Read the story