The upper chamber of the General Assembly had a big week. Senate Joint Resolution 150 passed the committee and the floor and now heads to the House. It seeks to end the COVID-19 State of Emergency that was just extended in January.
“The original emergency was declared by our governor on March 6, 2020,” said Sen. Donald Douglas (R-Nicholasville), who introduced the resolution. “…there have been many, many changes that have gone on since that time, and I’m not going into all of those, but they have been getting positive and positive direction.”
But, the move is also political maneuvering from both sides, as Gov. Andy Beshear recently issued an executive order to put a freeze on vehicle tax. The House and Senate were both working on bills for this, and now the governor can claim the credit.
“The state of emergency helps Kentucky receive federal dollars to fight the pandemic and provide relief. Kentucky is open for business – there are no state restrictions on our employers, and our schools have been and are open. Gov. Beshear is focused on beating the pandemic and not playing politics. He hopes others will follow that example,” said Crystal Staley, the director of communications for Governor Beshear, last week.
House Introduces Tax Reform Bill
House Bill 8 was introduced on Friday and will slowly lower the state’s income tax, currently at five percent, over a period of time until it is eliminated.
“Kentuckians, those here and those who will move here, recognize that what remains in your pocket at the end of a day’s work determines how you live. We have been very open about our goal to let people keep more of their hard-earned money rather than collecting it for the government to determine how to spend,” said House Appropriations and Revenue Chair Jason Petrie. “Population growth is a necessary component of long-term growth in Kentucky and is affected substantially by our tax structure. It is also critical that we get more individuals into the workforce. We cannot continue to build our economy when more than 40 percent of those who should be working are not. HB 8 incentivizes both by allowing more of the fruits of their labor to remain in their pockets.”
Republicans in the legislature have been talking about “comprehensive tax reform” over the course of the session, so this doesn’t come as a surprise. When Beshear announced the vehicle tax freeze, he also offered support for a bill to lower the sales tax from five to four percent. This is against what Republicans want to do. Beshear warned against this type of tax reform from Republicans, which he said would raise taxes on common Kentuckians while decreasing tax for corporations and wealthy Kentuckians.
“Our families don’t need this type of ‘reform.’ They need relief,” Beshear said. “So, if we are going to alter our tax structure, let’s do it to address the current inflation and in a way that will help our families. Let’s do it in a way that will make things cost less for all Kentuckians.”
LINK nky will have additional reporting on this on Monday.
Next Week: Senate Budget and Brent Spence Bridge
Kentucky is expected to partner with the State of Ohio and draw attention to the Brent Spence Bridge project. While no details have been released, Gov. Andy Beshear and Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine are expected to meet in Northern Kentucky with several local politicians from both sides of the river. It is yet to be determined what will be announced from this meeting.
There have been rumblings that the Senate is finally nearing completion on its budget. Sen. Chris McDaniel has been busy combing through the Governor’s and House’s budget, and there should be movement on this sometime in the next week or two. While the House praised itself for releasing its budget ahead of Beshear’s, something that’s never been done before, it most likely has caused issues for those in the upper chambers dealing with the unexpected release of the House budget.