taxes
Kentucky Attorney General Coleman moves to block Hazard’s restaurant tax, calls it ‘unlawful’
The Eastern Kentucky city of Hazard is facing another legal obstacle in its effort to begin collecting a restaurant tax. Attorney General Russell Coleman is appealing a Franklin Circuit Court order that said Hazard was eligible to? pursue the tax. He called it “an unlawful tax” for the city of about 5,200. The restaurant tax, […]
Fiscal path clear for another cut in Kentucky’s income tax, lawmakers hear
Kentucky’s state budget director told lawmakers Wednesday that fiscal thresholds established by the GOP-dominated legislature before the state income tax can be lowered have been met at the end of this fiscal year.? That means Kentucky lawmakers are likely to vote to reduce the state’s income tax rate by another half-percentage point to 3.5% during […]
Study says undocumented immigrants paid almost $100 billion in taxes
A new study shows that undocumented immigrants paid nearly $100 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue in 2022 while many are shut out of the programs their taxes fund. The findings run counter to anti-immigrant rhetoric that undocumented immigrants are “destroying” social programs. In 40 states, undocumented immigrants paid higher tax rates than […]
Healthy coincidence? Kentucky’s adult smoking rate, cigarette tax collections decline
Increasing state cigarette taxes has proven to be an effective policy to decrease smoking rates, and it appears that is also true in Kentucky. Nearly 30 percent of Kentucky adults smoked in 2011, two years after the legislature had doubled the cigarette tax to 60 cents a pack. Following a 50-cent increase to $1.10 in […]
Attorney general sides with GOP lawmakers on voiding some of Beshear’s line-item vetoes
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office ruled Tuesday that some of Gov. Andy Beshear’s recent line-item vetoes are void, upholding the General Assembly’s move to make all of House Bill 8 a law.? At the end of this year’s legislative session, Beshear issued two line-item vetoes on HB 8, a Republican-backed bill with wide-ranging provisions […]
Hazard, some other Kentucky towns may enact restaurant tax, judge rules
A Franklin Circuit judge has given a legal victory to Hazard and several other Kentucky cities interested in imposing a restaurant tax. The tax, created by the legislature in 1980, is levied in about 50 of Kentucky’s 418 cities on retail sales of food and beverages in all restaurants in the city. The tax rate […]
Kentucky Senate approves two-year state budget 36-1
A nearly unanimous Senate on Wednesday night approved a state budget for the next two years before the document was publicly available on the legislature’s web site. The compromise budget, which by Thursday morning was posted on the legislature’s site, emerged from a House-Senate free conference committee on Tuesday. It increases funding for the basic […]
Child tax credit expanded, business tax breaks get new life in bill passed by U.S. House
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a $78 billion tax package that would expand the child tax credit and reinstate some tax incentives for businesses. The 357-70 vote sends the bill, dubbed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, to the U.S. Senate, where lawmakers are expected […]
Budget, charter schools and abortion: What to watch for as Kentucky legislature convenes
Lawmakers will gather in Frankfort Jan. 2? to begin work on a state budget in a year when they will face voters at the polls. The 60-day session will see the Republican-led General Assembly consider constitutional amendments to put on the November ballot, as well as pass a two-year state spending plan. It will also […]
Blue and red states slash taxes despite warnings of hard times ahead
With a $750 million budget surplus on hand, there was little doubt whether North Dakota lawmakers would cut taxes earlier this year — the question was how much. “The surplus was strong, and we believe it’s going to be sustained into the future,” said state Rep. Craig Headland. “So, it just made sense to cut […]
As child poverty doubles, states launch or expand their own tax credit
The federal pandemic-era child tax credit expansion lifted millions of children out of poverty in the second half of 2021. But Congress allowed it to expire at the end of that year, and new U.S. census data shows the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022, erasing the record gains that were made. “It […]
Kentucky fails to meet fiscal trigger to allow for another income tax cut
Kentucky Republicans’ goal?of gradually eliminating the state income tax has met an obstacle of their own making. State tax revenues failed to meet a fiscal requirement set by the GOP-controlled legislature in order to consider further income tax cuts during next year’s legislative session, according to a letter?from the state budget director.? The General Assembly […]