ITEP Work in Action
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Undocumented Immigrants Contribute $37 Million Toward Investments in Kentucky Each Year
April 3, 2017
Undocumented immigrants living in Kentucky pay $36.6 million in state and local taxes each year, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. These substantial tax contributions should be acknowledged as lawmakers consider the economic and social impact of immigration policy and enforcement in the U.S. – including a recent […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Tiny Fraction of Wealthiest Kentuckians Gain from Tax Cuts in Health Repeal
March 23, 2017
The House plan to repeal healthcare reform, known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), provides a tax cut to the wealthiest people while reducing the number of Americans with health coverage by an estimated 24 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Because Kentucky has relatively few high earners, we benefit even less from the […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: The Math Behind Ed Choice Tax Credit Fails Many Tests
February 21, 2017
Today in the House Education Committee legislators are hearing discussion of House Bill 162, a proposal to create a so-called Education Choice tax credit in Kentucky. This proposal does not target low- and moderate-income students as suggested; is expensive, taking resources away from public schools and other investments; and provides an excessively large credit under […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Refugees, Immigrants Important to Kentucky and the Economy: An Overview of the Research
February 1, 2017
From the promise to build a wall paid for by tariffs on Mexican imports and uncertainty about what will happen to DACA (which allows undocumented immigrants whose parents brought them to the U.S. as children to apply for a renewable reprieve from deportation), to a 120-day ban on refugee admissions and an indefinite ban for […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: A Preview of the 2016-2018 Kentucky State Budget
January 10, 2017
A comprehensive preview of the upcoming two-year Kentucky state budget confirms both a massive funding gap facing the state for the next two years and a need for reinvestment in many areas post-recession. Authored by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP), the report notes that expected growth in state revenue the first year […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: 2016 Kentucky Budget Primer
January 10, 2017
The Budget of the Commonwealth is a financial plan, enacted every two years by Kentucky’s General Assembly, that maps out our state’s investments in education, health, transportation, public safety, human services and other areas that build a strong state economy. As such, the budget is a statement of Kentucky’s priorities: How we invest reflects […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Inheritance Tax Repeal Is Giveaway to the Top Kentucky Can’t Afford
January 10, 2017
Since 1906, Kentucky has relied on the inheritance tax to help pay for the good schools, infrastructure and other investments that strengthen the Commonwealth. A repeal of the inheritance tax would be a $51 million tax cut tilted to the very wealthy that would weaken those investments and make economic progress harder in the […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Those at the Top Would Get More Tax Breaks, Investments Would Suffer from Shift to Consumption Taxes
December 13, 2016
“The table below shows the impact, by income group, of two such hypothetical shifts. Notice that even when the shift is seemingly minor – one penny less on the dollar for the top income tax rate and one penny more on the sales tax rate – the top one percent of households get a $5,396 […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Revenue Options that Strengthen the Commonwealth
February 8, 2016
“By generating new revenue to invest in the building blocks of our s.tate, good tax reform will make Kentucky stronger for all. This menu of tax reform options describes some of main ways to get there. Currently, too many tax breaks and loopholes in the state’s tax system drain money that is needed to shore […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Reinstating Kentucky’s Tax on Extreme Wealth a Part of Making State Taxes Fair and Adequate
October 21, 2015
Kentucky loses an estimated $25 million a year because state lawmakers haven’t yet taken steps to recoup lost revenue from federal estate tax changes that essentially eliminated the state’s estate tax in the 2000s 1. Recognizing estate taxes generate revenue and make taxes fairer, many states have either decoupled from the federal changes or enacted […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Inaction on Gas Tax Will Drop Rate to Historically Low Levels
March 26, 2015
Good roads are critical to public safety and to Kentucky’s economy, especially in a state so dependent on manufacturing and distribution industries. Funding from the gas tax and other sources also supports over 40,000 jobs. It’s important that the General Assembly recognize the need for a sustainable revenue stream to keep Kentucky’s infrastructure safe and […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Kentucky’s Upside Down Tax System Asks the Least of Those at the Top
January 16, 2015
In 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, […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: State EITC Would Make a Regressive Tax System Fairer
May 22, 2014
Previous posts have described how a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) would help working low-income Kentuckians make ends meet and reach every corner of the state. A state EITC would also make the tax system fairer, as shown in a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Kentucky’s tax system […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: While Kentucky’s Budget Faces More Cuts, Profitable Fortune 500 Companies Avoid Paying State Corporate Income Taxes
March 20, 2014
As Kentucky and other states struggle with tough budget decisions about essential public services, profitable Fortune 500 companies including Kentucky-based Yum Brands and Humana pay little to nothing in state corporate income taxes around the country, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Citizens for Tax Justice. Read […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Measuring the Tax Plan Against Key Principles
February 10, 2014
Governor Beshear has released his tax reform proposal, and analysis and debate over the plan has begun. It’s important that this discussion keep in mind three principles that are needed in a tax reform plan in order to move Kentucky forward: First, tax reform should generate significant new revenue now to allow Kentucky to begin […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Tax Plan Misses Opportunity to Make Overall Tax System Fairer
February 7, 2014
The combined impact of the tax increases and tax cuts in Governor Beshear’s reform proposal would not help improve the regressive nature of Kentucky’s tax system, according to analysis of the plan released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The plan would basically maintain the existing distribution of taxes for individuals, […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Using the Federal Income Tax Cuts to Help Address Kentucky’s Budget Challenge
January 14, 2013
The federal tax compromise passed by Congress in December resulted in extensions to a number of tax changes set to expire and provided a large tax break to the wealthiest Americans. Analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that the top 5 percent of Kentuckians will receive a tax cut of over […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Reforms Needed to Bring Greater Scrutiny to “Tax Expenditures”
January 14, 2013
Every year Kentucky loses billions of dollars in revenue through special tax preferences and breaks for individuals and businesses that are written into the tax code. Yet there is very little understanding or awareness of these provisions, which are known as tax expenditures, and almost no review and assessment of their effectiveness. Tax expenditures receive […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Farmer’s High-Risk Overhaul Creates Imbalance in Kentucky’s Tax System
January 14, 2013
House Bill 196, sponsored by Representative Bill Farmer, proposes to overhaul Kentucky’s tax system by eliminating income taxes on individuals and corporations while greatly expanding the sales tax base. The bill is an example of a shift to a consumption-based tax system. Kentucky needs to reform its tax structure, and HB 196 considers ways to […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Four Revenue Options that Should Be on the Table
January 14, 2013
The Kentucky legislature is debating ways to address the hole in the state’s Medicaid budget. The options under consideration include immediate across-the-board budget cuts as well as eventual cuts to non-education programs if the governor’s proposed Medicaid savings for 2012 are not achieved. But before enacting painful cuts that are on top of several years […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Extending Federal Tax Cuts Would Double the Deficit for the Benefit of the Wealthiest
January 14, 2013
Ten years ago, large federal tax cuts were signed into law by President Bush. Those cuts are now set to expire at the end of 2012. Extending them beyond that date would almost double the size of the federal budget deficit, and in Kentucky close to half of the tax cuts from an extension would […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: 2011 Revenue Results a Reminder of Importance of State Income Taxes
January 14, 2013
The $166 million in state revenues above projections for the fiscal year that just ended are helping prevent additional cuts to critical state services. They are also a reminder of the advantages of a broad-based tax system and in particular the importance of Kentucky’s individual and corporate income taxes. Read the Full Report (PDF)
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Kentucky’s Income Tax: Protecting and Strengthening a Key to Growth
December 17, 2012
“The state individual income tax is essential to economic growth and quality of life in Kentucky and should be protected – even strengthened – as part of any tax reform package. It is the largest and most effective tool the state has to generate resources for crucial investments in schools, health care and other key […]
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