Bowling Green members shape Blue Ribbon tax meeting!
Bowling Green members – and even some allies from Tennessee – shone at last night's Blue Ribbon Tax Reform Public Input Meeting.
Ryan Alessi featured clips from several of our members in his coverage for "Pure Politics." Take a look! Other key parts of these members' testimony is pasted below their clip.
"I hope you’ll hear the call of Kentuckians: meet our collective needs with our shared resources, and consider deeply the impact your decisions will have on all citizens of the Commonwealth. And don’t sacrifice much needed revenues in the search for corporate competitiveness … we need solutions that benefit all of us, not just those who run major companies."
– Alan Smith, Bowling Green Chapter
"When I dream for my children, I do not dream that industries will want to hire my kids because they come cheap. I dream that industries will want to hire my kids and their friends because they are the brightest, most skilled labor force in the world. Not in spite of being Kentuckians, but because they are Kentuckians."
– Dana Beasley Brown, Bowling Green Chapter
Jay Sloan, the first speaker in the above clip, isn't a KFTC member, but it seems like he should be.
Sandi Joiner, in yellow, is a member in Barren County.
Sandi Joiner, in yellow, is a member in Barren County.
"I have heard others in Kentucky holding up Tennessee as having a model tax structure that Kentucky should emulate. I’m here to disabuse you of that notion. We were founded because Tennessee’s success in attracting industries is a house of cards built on tax incentives to seduce businesses to locate facilities in the state. As soon as those incentives expire, they will look for incentives in another state or offshore. Tennessee has the vacant factories to prove it."
-- Bill Howell, Executive Director of Tennesseans for Fair Taxation
The local paper, the Bowling Green Daily News, also gave the event good coverage featuring several KFTC members, and offering an overview of the Kentucky Forward Plan, the tax reform bill that KFTC supports. Jacob Abrahamson, a local high school student and Bowling Green KFTC member (he's wearing the green KFTC shirt in the group photo), made the paper's headline! Here's a snippet of Jacob's statement:
"I have the privilege to attend a brand-new school, South Warren High School. But as I look at all of the new technology and opportunities the facility provides to me and my fellow classmates, I can’t help but think of the schools even a few counties away who do not share these educational opportunities. This, to me, is wrong."
-- Jacob Abrahamson, Bowling Green Chapter
These are just some of the great quotes. All of our members' statements were honest, personal, compelling, and thoughtful. At least four other people referenced a KFTC speaker when they spoke. One person, for example, pointed out Jacob and said, "When I heard him I just wanted to say, 'I agree with him! Thank you!'"
Thanks to each of the seven KFTC folks who spoke out so beautifully last night. And thanks, too, to all the members in the audience offering support! It was a great night!
There will be four more Blue Ribbon Public Meetings this summer, in Louisville, Northern KY, and Prestonsburg, and Lexington. Take a look at KFTC's Blue Ribbon page to learn how to get involved in the meeting coming near you!
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