Let’s take a look at taxes and jobs in Kentucky.
In Fiscal year 2005-2006 Corporate Income Tax collected was $1,001,618,543. In Fiscal year 2008-2009 the Corporate Income Tax collected was $267,984,858. A drop of $733,633,685.
In Fiscal year 2005-2006 Individual Income Tax collected was $2,918,610,982. In Fiscal year 2008-2009 the Individual Income Tax collected was $3,315,368,217. An increase of $396,757,235.
During a four year period Corporate Income Tax paid to the state dropped over 73 percent, while Individual Income Tax has increased over 13 percent.
During the same four years the number people employed in Kentucky went from 1,875,512 in 2005 to 1,862,872 in 2009, a drop of 7,360 people employed.
The average per capita income in 2005 in Kentucky was $28,446. In 2008 the average per capita income in Kentucky was $31,936 an increase of $2,490 or an increase of 8.75 percent.
For some reason trickle-down economics isn’t working in Kentucky. In spite of a reduction of over 73% in tax paid by corporate tax payers the raw number of people employed in Kentucky has dropped during the same period of time. During this same period of time per capita income has not kept pace with the amount of individual income tax paid by Kentucky workers.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Amendments to the Kentucky Constitution
Here are a couple of the proposed amendments to the Kentucky Constitution. I was going to be real tacky and snide in my comments, but there is no point. Both of them speak for themselves.
BR 71 - Representative Leslie Combs, Representative Greg Stumbo, Representative John "Bam" Carney (09/02/10)
AN ACT proposing to amend the Constitution of Kentucky relating to hunting, fishing, and harvesting wildlife.
Propose to amend the Constitution of Kentucky to create a right to hunt, fish, and harvest nonthreatened species using traditional methods; submit to the voters for approval or disapproval.
BR 249 - Representative Ron Crimm (12/10/10)
AN ACT proposing an amendment to Sections 30 and 31 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to elections of members to the General Assembly.
Propose to amend Sections 30 and 31 of the Constitution of Kentucky to extend the terms of State Representatives from two to four years and State Senators from four to six years beginning in 2012; include transitional schedule; submit to voters for approval or disapproval.
BR 71 - Representative Leslie Combs, Representative Greg Stumbo, Representative John "Bam" Carney (09/02/10)
AN ACT proposing to amend the Constitution of Kentucky relating to hunting, fishing, and harvesting wildlife.
Propose to amend the Constitution of Kentucky to create a right to hunt, fish, and harvest nonthreatened species using traditional methods; submit to the voters for approval or disapproval.
BR 249 - Representative Ron Crimm (12/10/10)
AN ACT proposing an amendment to Sections 30 and 31 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to elections of members to the General Assembly.
Propose to amend Sections 30 and 31 of the Constitution of Kentucky to extend the terms of State Representatives from two to four years and State Senators from four to six years beginning in 2012; include transitional schedule; submit to voters for approval or disapproval.
Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act
To me it sort of looks like there is not a lot of limitations on firearms in Kentucky so I’m confused as to why a half dozen of our Representatives feel the need for a “Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act”.
BR 92 - Senator John Schickel, Senator Damon Thayer, Senator Jack Westwood (09/02/10)
AN ACT relating to firearms, including ammunition and accessories for firearms.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 relating to firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories made in Kentucky, marked as made in Kentucky, and used in Kentucky to specify that these items, with specified exemptions, are exempt from federal law; name law the "Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act."
BR 161 - Representative Sal Santoro, Representative Alecia Webb-Edgington (09/21/10)
AN ACT relating to firearms, including ammunition and accessories for firearms.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 relating to firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories made in Kentucky, marked as made in Kentucky, and used in Kentucky to specify that these items, with specified exemptions, are exempt from federal law; name the law the "Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act".
BR 397 - Representative Stan Lee (12/14/10)
AN ACT relating to firearms, including ammunition and accessories for firearms.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 relating to firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories made in Kentucky, marked "made in Kentucky," and used in Kentucky to specify that these items are exempt from federal law; specify that the exemption does not apply to machine guns, silencers, exploding ammunition, and firearms with a bore of 1 1/2 inches; name law the "Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act."
I guess that “Made in Kentucky” stamp will be good for branding and subsequent advertising.
From the Brady Campaign:
Kentucky has weak gun laws that help feed the illegal gun market and allow the sale of guns without background checks, according to the Brady Campaign. In the organization’s 2009 state scorecards released for all 50 states, Kentucky earned just two points out of a total of 100.
According to government figures, Kentucky also has the seventeenth highest percentage of crime guns recovered that were originally purchased within the state. The Brady Campaign relates this “homegrown” gun violence to the lack of gun laws in the state and nationally.
I guess when you are number three you have to try harder. We can’t let Mississippi and West Virginia beat us.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recently released nationwide crime gun trace data for 2009 crime guns recovered by police and traced back to the dealer that sold the gun.
The data shows that Mississippi, for the second year in a row, had the highest rate of crime guns exported to other states, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Alabama.
BR 92 - Senator John Schickel, Senator Damon Thayer, Senator Jack Westwood (09/02/10)
AN ACT relating to firearms, including ammunition and accessories for firearms.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 relating to firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories made in Kentucky, marked as made in Kentucky, and used in Kentucky to specify that these items, with specified exemptions, are exempt from federal law; name law the "Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act."
BR 161 - Representative Sal Santoro, Representative Alecia Webb-Edgington (09/21/10)
AN ACT relating to firearms, including ammunition and accessories for firearms.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 relating to firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories made in Kentucky, marked as made in Kentucky, and used in Kentucky to specify that these items, with specified exemptions, are exempt from federal law; name the law the "Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act".
BR 397 - Representative Stan Lee (12/14/10)
AN ACT relating to firearms, including ammunition and accessories for firearms.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 relating to firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories made in Kentucky, marked "made in Kentucky," and used in Kentucky to specify that these items are exempt from federal law; specify that the exemption does not apply to machine guns, silencers, exploding ammunition, and firearms with a bore of 1 1/2 inches; name law the "Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act."
I guess that “Made in Kentucky” stamp will be good for branding and subsequent advertising.
From the Brady Campaign:
Kentucky has weak gun laws that help feed the illegal gun market and allow the sale of guns without background checks, according to the Brady Campaign. In the organization’s 2009 state scorecards released for all 50 states, Kentucky earned just two points out of a total of 100.
According to government figures, Kentucky also has the seventeenth highest percentage of crime guns recovered that were originally purchased within the state. The Brady Campaign relates this “homegrown” gun violence to the lack of gun laws in the state and nationally.
I guess when you are number three you have to try harder. We can’t let Mississippi and West Virginia beat us.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recently released nationwide crime gun trace data for 2009 crime guns recovered by police and traced back to the dealer that sold the gun.
The data shows that Mississippi, for the second year in a row, had the highest rate of crime guns exported to other states, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Alabama.
It's All Just Coincidence
Now I am a firm believer in coincidence. I certainly believe that totally unrelated things happen all the time in politics and government particularly when elections, power and money are involved.
Here is an example:
First, the Governor signed House Bill 1, “An Act relating to retirement and declaring an emergency,” which became effective on June 27, 2008. Section 21 of that bill amended Kentucky Revised Statues, KRS 61.645(3) to shorten the term limits for elected trustees of the Kentucky Retirement Systems from five to three consecutive terms.
In August 2009 there were 22 prospective candidates for the two slots on the Kentucky Retirement Systems board representing State employees. The two open seats were those held by Bobby Henson, who had served three terms, and would not be eligible to run for a 4th term and Board Chair Randy Overstreet who would not be eligible to run for his 5th term. Most of the board was under that assumption as well.
Then by sheer luck (coincidence number 1) a day before the August 2009 Board meeting, in which the 6 finalists were chosen, Kentucky Retirement Systems Executive Director Mike Burnside alerted the board that on August 19 that he had obtained an opinion from Attorney General Conway’s Office (OAG09-006) that would allow Henson to run for a 4th and 5th term.
A participant filed a lawsuit to overturn the Attorney General’s opinion and prevent Henson from running, but Judge Thomas D. Wingate’s ruling (10-CI-00186) threw it out (coincidence number 2) using the logic that a participant could not show enough harm to warrant a change in the election.
In the two months, following the Attorney General’s decision, in the fall of 2009 Attorney General Jack Conway’s Senate campaign received close to $100,000 from vendors who work with public pension plan (coincidence number 3). After this one period the campaign received very little from the investment industry.
Conway Campaign advisor Mark Riddle had also (coincidence number 4) worked as a placement agent for managers to other public plans.
The KRS staff decision to cover up the placement agent scandal for 8 months (coincidence number 5) was beneficial to the election of Henson and Overstreet. The KRS audit staff was aware of the placement agents prior to the voting period, January 25th to March 1st 2010, which put Mr. Henson in for his 4th term.
They held out on the cover up until August 4th, which (coincidence number 6) was only days after the July 31, 2010 filing deadline for candidates from the State Police Retirement System, where Randy Overstreet was the only resume received allowing him to lock in his 5th consecutive term.
I’m sure all these occurrences are just coincidence, aren’t you?
Here is an example:
First, the Governor signed House Bill 1, “An Act relating to retirement and declaring an emergency,” which became effective on June 27, 2008. Section 21 of that bill amended Kentucky Revised Statues, KRS 61.645(3) to shorten the term limits for elected trustees of the Kentucky Retirement Systems from five to three consecutive terms.
In August 2009 there were 22 prospective candidates for the two slots on the Kentucky Retirement Systems board representing State employees. The two open seats were those held by Bobby Henson, who had served three terms, and would not be eligible to run for a 4th term and Board Chair Randy Overstreet who would not be eligible to run for his 5th term. Most of the board was under that assumption as well.
Then by sheer luck (coincidence number 1) a day before the August 2009 Board meeting, in which the 6 finalists were chosen, Kentucky Retirement Systems Executive Director Mike Burnside alerted the board that on August 19 that he had obtained an opinion from Attorney General Conway’s Office (OAG09-006) that would allow Henson to run for a 4th and 5th term.
A participant filed a lawsuit to overturn the Attorney General’s opinion and prevent Henson from running, but Judge Thomas D. Wingate’s ruling (10-CI-00186) threw it out (coincidence number 2) using the logic that a participant could not show enough harm to warrant a change in the election.
In the two months, following the Attorney General’s decision, in the fall of 2009 Attorney General Jack Conway’s Senate campaign received close to $100,000 from vendors who work with public pension plan (coincidence number 3). After this one period the campaign received very little from the investment industry.
Conway Campaign advisor Mark Riddle had also (coincidence number 4) worked as a placement agent for managers to other public plans.
The KRS staff decision to cover up the placement agent scandal for 8 months (coincidence number 5) was beneficial to the election of Henson and Overstreet. The KRS audit staff was aware of the placement agents prior to the voting period, January 25th to March 1st 2010, which put Mr. Henson in for his 4th term.
They held out on the cover up until August 4th, which (coincidence number 6) was only days after the July 31, 2010 filing deadline for candidates from the State Police Retirement System, where Randy Overstreet was the only resume received allowing him to lock in his 5th consecutive term.
I’m sure all these occurrences are just coincidence, aren’t you?
Controlling the Coal Severence Funds
A reader raised an excellent point regarding the coal severance tax.
“…if the legislature gives up control of that money, what will happen is that pot of gold will become a political slush fund for the local officials to reward their cronies for votes, graft and corruption….”
While the legislature does spend a lot of the money on a lot of touchy feely items, like calling little league equipment an infrastructure item, turning the money over to some local political boss is not the right answer.
One possible answer would be some type of commission that would decide how the money was spent. The commission mandate would need some firm guidelines and a mandatory annual audit by the state Auditor and there are a few things that would have to be worked out
There are actually two different "flavors" of money, a single county and a separate multi county pot of coal money. There is a question whether these funds can be comingled, but that would seem to be more of an accounting issues than and administrative issue.
But all in all I do agree that handing a blank check to the entrenched bosses of petty political fiefdoms is not a good answer.
“…if the legislature gives up control of that money, what will happen is that pot of gold will become a political slush fund for the local officials to reward their cronies for votes, graft and corruption….”
While the legislature does spend a lot of the money on a lot of touchy feely items, like calling little league equipment an infrastructure item, turning the money over to some local political boss is not the right answer.
One possible answer would be some type of commission that would decide how the money was spent. The commission mandate would need some firm guidelines and a mandatory annual audit by the state Auditor and there are a few things that would have to be worked out
There are actually two different "flavors" of money, a single county and a separate multi county pot of coal money. There is a question whether these funds can be comingled, but that would seem to be more of an accounting issues than and administrative issue.
But all in all I do agree that handing a blank check to the entrenched bosses of petty political fiefdoms is not a good answer.
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