Kentucky has nearly $1 billion deficit. Help put tax reform on the agenda!

Economists confirmed today that Kentucky's deficit is nearly $1 billion for the new fiscal year that starts July 1 — the largest deficit in the state's history, and large enough to legally obligate our elected officials to address, most likely in a Special Session in June.

Despite having made commitments during the general assembly to take up comprehensive tax reforms, Gov. Beshear, Speaker Stumbo, and some other legislators are once again passing the buck, claiming that now is not the time for revenue reform.  Instead, they're offering...well, not much.  Video slot machines that won't even bring in revenue for a year.

Now is exactly the time for comprehensive, progressive revenue reform.  Here's why:

• As Sheila Schuster of Advocacy Action told the press at yesterday's Kentucky Forward press conference, "They say to tighten the belt...We don't even have a belt to tighten anymore."  More cuts will jeopardize our ability to educate, keep healthy, and protect our families.


• The recession is hurting low- and moderate-income families.  Why is Kentucky continuing to ask these families to pay more in taxes than higher incomes?  We have an opportunity for revenue reforms that make our system fairer.
  


• Studies and expert testimony (here, here and here) show that during economic downturns, especially, state economies benefit from modest tax increases on the wealthy, and suffers from debilitating budget cuts.  (The studies rely on the work of Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag).

We have an opportunity to act!  Here's what you can do:

1. 1)  Contact Governor Beshear and tell him to make comprehensive tax reforms part of the agenda for the special session. Phone: 502-564-2611.  Fax: 502-564-2517.   Or use his online email form.   Message: As you write the call for the special session to address the budget crisis, please include comprehensive revenue reforms. Don’t box us out. 
   


2. Come to a hearing of the Appropriations and Revenue Committee hearing on June 4 at 1 p.m. in the capitol annex to show support for Rep. Jim Wayne’s tax reform bill, one that KFTC has pushed for several years. The committee will hear testimony on this bill, as well as other tax proposals (yet they say this is for information only and these proposals will not be part of the special session).
   


3. Watch KFTC member Dana Beasley Brown and Mary Ann Blankenship, executive director of Kentucky Educational Association, on Bill Goodman’s Kentucky Tonight show on KET, Monday evening (June 1) at 8 p.m. EDT.  Support them with your comments and questions, which may be emailed during the show to: [email protected]. Also on the show will be two guests representing anti-government and anti-tax groups.
   

To learn more about our work with the Kentucky Forward Coalition, check out these two articles in the Lexington Herald-Leader and the The Courier-Journal.