KEJA -- Kentucky Forward

Kentucky Forward!

We Want Tax Justice

KEJA Calls on State Lawmakers to Enact Fair & Adequate Revenue Reform

Kentuckians want to live and work in strong, vibrant communities, where we all have opportunities for safety, success, and happiness.

We all make investments to ensure that we move forward together as a commonwealth. We expect these public investments to generate meaningful public returns, including quality schools and universities, access to public health services and good medical care, dependable police and fire protection, reliable transportation and communications systems, and assistance for veterans, the elderly, and the disabled.

We know that these are the foundations—education, good health, security—that make our communities prosper, and we want our investments in these foundations to be adequate. A tax system that allows each of us to make appropriate private investments toward the public good is essential to moving Kentucky Forward.

Structural Deficits Lead to Crisis in Kentucky

Unfortunately, Kentucky’s tax system is not living up to our expectations. It depends too heavily on working families, who pay a greater percentage of their income than the wealthy do. Our tax structure remains out of date and does not reflect or grow with today's economy. The result -- a current year shortfall of $129 million, and $900 million for the new biennium (FY 2009/20010). Because the tax system doesn’t allow us to invest enough in those foundational structures needed to move Kentucky forward, it erodes public trust in what we’re able to accomplish collectively.

We need a tax system that lives up to our potential and our expectations. Consider the following:

• Kentucky sends the highest state income tax bill in the nation to families of four earning just above the federal poverty line.

• The more you earn in Kentucky, the less you owe in taxes as a percentage of your income. Kentuckians who earn roughly $7 to $12 dollars an hour pay a full 10% of their income in state and local taxes, the highest of any income group.

• Kentucky’s tax system is riddled with special breaks, exemptions and out-dated provisions that allow some individuals and businesses to avoid paying their full tax obligations.

As a result, there isn’t enough money to meet the critical needs of our state. Kentucky is in danger of falling even farther behind states that invest for the long haul. Current estimates suggest that we face a $900 million gap – called a structural deficit – between what we have and what we need to move Kentucky forward.

Kentucky doesn’t suffer from a lack of good people or ideas. We have these problems because we haven’t had political leadership willing to allow us to invest in our institutions and people.

Move Kentucky Forward

Fair and sensible revenue reforms can move Kentucky forward. Good solutions are available to strengthen our foundations, to address Kentucky’s revenue crisis, to make our tax system fairer, and to create opportunities for all of us to move Kentucky forward.

The Kentucky Forward Bill is legislation that would provide about $250 million annually in new investments in Kentucky’s schools, universities and other public structures, while directing $89 million back to working families earning less than about $40,000 a year.

Imagine What Kentucky Could Be...

Imagine what is possible when we are able to invest in a better future for Kentucky. We can ensure that every child has the opportunity to go to schools with smaller class sizes that give them the best chance to succeed; we can ensure that every student with a dream is able to pay for college; and we can develop a healthy and well-trained workforce that attracts innovative industries and good paying jobs.

Great schools, good services, and educated and skilled workers can motivate businesses and families to make Kentucky their home. Investing in ourselves, in our collective ability to be active, engaged, educated, and healthy citizens, is the smartest thing we can do for our communities.

The generations who came before us helped to build communities across Kentucky that are proud, creative and resourceful. However, they also passed on to us some serious challenges stemming from prolonged under-investment in our schools, heath care system, social services and critical infrastructure. It is our shared responsibility to take up those challenges and do better for this generation and the next.

Let’s Move Kentucky Forward!

Tax Justice Archive

Learn about the important contributions that KEJA partners and grassroots citizens have made over the past few years to build a better Kentucky through fair and adequate tax reform

This site was last updated on June 23, 2008