Tax Reform on the Agenda - Make Your Voice Heard

UPDATE Below

Unfortunately, it looks like Kentucky legislators would limit "reform" to applying sales taxes to services.

After years of little movement, a push to overhaul Kentucky’s tax structure and possibly correct the state’s perennially unbalanced checkbook is gaining steam.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo has asked key legislators who have been pushing for a retooling of the tax system to come up with a proposal that could be considered this legislative session, potentially as a solution to a possible $1.5 billion shortfall in the next two-year state budget.

Lawmakers have known for years that the state’s checkbook is unbalanced. Since 2000, the General Assembly has spent about $3.6 billion more from the General Fund than the state collected in revenues.

A major cause of the cash crisis is that revenue from key taxes has not kept pace with growth in the economy, which has become increasingly dominated by largely untaxed service industries.

Read the whole thing.

Yes, taxing services would be huge step toward dragging Kentucky's medieval tax system into the 20th century.

But bringing it into the 21st century and preparing it for the challenges of the next decade is going to require far more.

Like eliminating the special-interest and big-corporation tax breaks that suck up 2/3 of potential taxs revenue.

Call or email your legislators today to tell them you're tired of playing serf to the state's feudal barony.

Keep track of what's going on during the session at the LRC's home page here.

Find toll-free numbers to call your legislators here.

Email your legislators here.

Find out who represents you in the house and senate here.