Say it Ain’t So: Kentucky’s Missed Opportunity

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has unveiled a 22-point tax reform plan that includes a new refundable state earned income tax credit (EITC), limits on the generous $41,110 pension exclusion and expanding the sales tax base to include a wider range of services. The plan is based in part on the recommendations of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Tax Reform, which were released in 2012. Beshear’s plan also includes a cut in the personal and corporate income tax rates and an increase in the cigarette tax. In total the proposal increases state revenues by $210 million a year.

The proposal is a mixed bag.  While it raises much needed revenue and includes several reform-minded options, it falls short of improving the fairness of the state’s tax structure. The introduction of an EITC and limiting the current pension exclusion are a good start, but changing the corporate income tax apportionment formula to single sales factor and lowering personal and corporate income tax rates are costly ideas that benefit wealthier Kentuckians.

The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP) issued a brief containing an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) analysis showing that Governor Beshear’s proposal doesn’t improve tax fairness in any meaningful way. KCEP concludes that “the combined impact of the tax increases and tax cuts in Governor Beshear’s reform proposal would not help improve the regressive nature of Kentucky’s tax system.”  This is because the new revenue raised from the Governor’s plan comes almost entirely from regressive changes to the sales tax base and hiking cigarette taxes.

Governor Beshear deserves some credit for proposing tax reform despite this being an election year, but he missed an opportunity to truly reform the state’s tax structure by making it more fair and adequate. Let’s hope that Kentucky legislators follow KYCEP’s advice and “build on the good parts of the plan while making improvements.”