While vowing the Republican supermajority’s goal is to reduce the Kentucky income tax to zero, Rep. Jason Nemes, the majority whip from Middletown, said he believes the state met the necessary budget threshold this past summer to trigger another half-percent decrease in income tax.
That’s even though the state budget director made it clear in August that the state’s revenues fell $7.5 million short of what was needed in the last fiscal year to trigger another such cut, based on the complicated tax cut mechanism the supermajority created in 2022.
“I do not accept that we didn't hit the triggers,” Nemes said at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Legislative Preview. “I think we did hit the triggers in Kentucky, and even if we didn't — but we did that — we should, we need to reduce the taxes anyway.”
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Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel from Ryland Heights chairs the Senate’s Appropriations committee and shared the stage with Nemes. He appeared less willing to shift the calculation on the income tax trigger for next year and said the state did miss that trigger based on the current system.
“Ultimately, we had a particular process in place, and under the process that was in place, which involves the [Office of the State Budget Director] certification at the end of the year, we were off by about $7 million,” McDaniel said.
Read the rest at LPM News.
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