Budget thoughts, part 2

It has been a while since part 1, but here are some more thoughts, mainly about revenue.

The budget we passed was quite lean, due to lower revenues. There was a bill passed to increase taxes by raising the cigarette tax, along with several other taxes. It passed the House 50-45, but never received a hearing in the Senate.

There were mixed feeling in the district about the cigarette tax. Most calls I received were against it. However, the was some real support for it also.

I voted against the tax increase, and here is why. There are many methods of either increasing revenue or saving money that can be implemented. These should be addressed before we look at raising taxes. These options include:

Repealing the prevailing wage law. I have talked length about this issue on this blog. We are looking at savings of $250-500 million per biennium.

Expanded gaming. This need no explanation, as it has been talked about plenty. Estimated revenue: $600 million to 1.2 billion per biennium.

Allowing wine to be sold in grocery stores. Currently, you can't buy wine in grocery stores. I don't understand why. Estimated revenue: $20-25 million per biennium.

You may not agree with all these options. Good people disagree on these issues and that is OK. But I feel that these need to be given the chance to pass before we look at raising taxes. My suggestions would generate between $870 million to $1.725 billion per biennium. The low end would mitigate the cuts in the budget, the high end would provided additional revenue needed for human services, education, and possibly even tax cuts that would spur economic development or eliminating the state portion of the car tax.

Budget and Taxes

Wednesday we spent 5 hours in session, mostly dealing with increased taxes and the budget.

HB 262 raised taxes on cigarettes, janitorial services, chartered flights (including hot air ballons), and other services. It passed 50-45. I voted no. There are plenty of things we can do first before we raise taxes, like repeal the prevailing wage.

Then we approved the House version of the budget. I got my copy in the morning Wednesday, and read it all morning. All 312 pages. There is a lot not to like in it. However, there is plenty to like also. Therefore I voted for it to keep the process going. The final vote will come later after the conference committee.

Help for our soldiers

The State Senate approved a bill to exempt active duty military personnel from state income taxes. I hope that we can pass it in the House this year. A similar bill made it through the Senate last year and never got a hearing in the House.

Why is this important? Besides helping our soldiers, we have Ft. Campbell that stradles both Kentucky and Tennessee. Tennessee has no income tax. Therefore, about 90% of the soldiers that are stationed at Ft. Campbell live in Tennessee. If we can get those soliders to live in Kentucky, economic growth will follow in building of new homes, property taxes, just spending more money in Kentucky.