#KyGa22: Beshear's veto message of bill reducing income tax rates: Uninformed, misrepresentative

In announcing his veto on Friday of legislation gradually lowering Kentucky's personal income tax, @GovAndyBeshear showed his apparent unfamiliarity with the bill by comparing it to what happened in Kansas.

Contrary to Beshear’s uninformed claims, House Bill 8 does not set Kentucky up for fiscal failure like other states may have experienced.

Some of those missteps, particularly what happened in Kansas, also have been mischaracterized as offering evidence that Kentucky should resist moving away from dependency upon individual income taxes, which punishes — and therefore discourages — productivity toward a greater reliance on consumption-based tax policy. Such claims represent uninformed nonsense.

Two-and-and-half years ago, I predicted movement to reduce individual income tax rates would be met by such misinformation:

Expect Kentucky legislative leaders’ future attempts to lower income tax rates or rid Kentucky of this punitive approach to taxation altogether to be met with resuscitated arguments spouted by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP), a left-wing political advocacy group, blaming former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s reform agenda of reducing the Sunflower State’s income rates, expanding standard deductions and exempting non-wage pass-through income for a precipitous drop in forecast-ed revenues.

I went on to ask: Is that really what happened? and encouraged the reader to this analysis of what happened in Kansas from Dr. Art Laffer, known for creating Laffer’s Curve, an economic model showing that in certain circumstances, government could cut taxes while simultaneously increasing revenue and economic growth.

Overriding Beshear’s veto of HB 8 is the right, responsible and informed step for lawmakers to take when they reassemble next week for the final two days of the 2022 legislative session.

By establishing responsible triggers and final legislative approval, HB 8 offers Kentuckians another step toward relief from tax policy which discourages productivity and places our commonwealth at a disadvantage while setting Kentucky on a path whereby it can become competitive again.