Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Kentucky’s Upside Down Tax System Asks the Least of Those at the Top
ITEP Work in ActionIn Kentucky, the wealthiest residents pay the lowest overall state and local tax rate as documented in a new edition of a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
“Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in 50 States” analyzes all major state and local taxes including personal and corporate income, sales and excise and property taxes. It shows that the middle 20 percent of Kentuckians—with incomes ranging from $30,000 to $50,000 a year—pay 10.8 percent of family income, while the wealthiest one percent—whose incomes start at $330,000 but average at $839,500—pay only 6 percent.