Meanwhile In Bevinstan...

As the final days of the 2018 legislative session come to a close, Kentucky Republicans are passing major new tax legislation and nobody knows exactly what's in the damn bill.

House and Senate Republicans unveiled the most significant changes to Kentucky’s tax code in more than a decade Monday in attempts to provide funding in a tight budget year.
The full bill is not yet available to the public. House Speaker Pro Tempore David Osborne and House Majority Leader Jonathan Shell declined to speak to the Herald-Leader. 

“The whole way this was done is unconscionable,” said Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville. “It’s heavy handed, it’s done by an elite and it’s done behind closed doors without any opportunity for the public to voice opinions or to vet these ideas.” 

The Senate passed the budget and tax bill after hours of discussion on Monday afternoon. The tax bill passed without the support of seven Republicans, while only two Republicans voted against the budget. 

Despite Republicans having complete control of the budget process for the first time in recent history, the bill did not win the support of Kentucky’s Republican Governor, Matt Bevin. 

“I am very concerned that the current proposals from the General Assembly may not meet these basic standards of fiscal responsibility,” Bevin said in a prepared statement. “It is our obligation to ensure that any budget and tax changes put Kentucky on a stronger financial foundation.”

We do know part of what's in the bill however: a massive tax cut for corporations and the wealthy by reducing both to 5% across the board, and a major new tax hike on Kentucky consumers by adding sales taxes to multiple goods and services that weren't taxed before.

The bill cuts the individual and corporate tax code to a flat 5 percent tax. Currently, anyone who makes more than $8,000 pays 5.8 percent on their individual income tax. Those who make more than $75,000 pay 6 percent. 

The income tax changes cost the state $114.1 million over the next two years, while the corporate tax changes cost the state $80 million over the next two years. Some of the changes are cuts, while others are increases like removing the $10 individual income tax credit. 

The Legislative Research Commission analysis of the revenue bill does not contain a breakdown of how much the tax cuts would cost the state. 

“We all agree we need comprehensive tax reform,” Rep. Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, told the budget committee. “This is the step to move Kentucky way up the ladder of competitiveness. 

The bulk of the new revenue comes from the tax on select services. While the bill avoided levying taxes on any of the large services in Kentucky—attorneys, accountants and hospitals in particular—through a series of taxes on smaller services, the state estimates it will bring in $436.3 million in revenue. 

The state will also bring in $244.7 million over the two-year budget with a 50 cent increase to the cigarette tax and a 15 percent tax on electronic cigarettes.

Even if GOP Gov. Matt Bevin vetoes the bill, the legislature most likely has the votes to override it, and it's going to take Kentucky down the road that destroyed Kansas's economy. Most K-12 education funding has been spared, and I mean most because there's still no money for textbooks (it was zeroed out) while colleges and universities and basically every other state department is getting Bevin's 6.25% axe.

The goal is to fund Kentucky's pension system, the reality is that the draconian state function cuts and tax increases are going to pay for the state's massive new corporate tax cut.  And all this happened under the cover of the teacher protests in Frankfort.  Oh, and there's no such thing as tenure in Kentucky's universities now, they're the first to go in order to make ends meet.

I hope Kentucky voters are paying attention in 2018 to vote out the massive sales and cig tax increase we're about to get and in 2019 when Bevin's up for re-election.

We'll see.  It's not the full Brownback here, but it's close.