Secretary of State Trey Grayson just released a statement on Steve Beshear’s budget plan:
“I am not sure that there are any other ways to articulate that we are going to experience severe pain due to these proposed cuts. This pain should send a clear message to the Governor and Legislature that we must find a bi-partisan, long-term solution to this problem, not just a quick fix. Comprehensive tax reform that will reduce the tax burden on productivity, and thus allow our economy to grow, is the only real answer to this crisis. Until we face this fact, our Commonwealth will continue to bear these difficult decisions.”
We’re not sure “tax reform” and the “free market” are the answer to our problems right now. But one thing is certain: a bi-partisan, long-term solution to our problems is necessary. Now.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Bruce Maples // Dec 11, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Read Greyson’s text closely — did you catch the dog whistle? It’s “reduce the tax burden on productivity.” In other words, lower taxes on business and the rich — the same old trickle-down crap that produces nothing but spiraling deficits and a shrinking middle class.
And before someone throws out the “Kentucky is hostile to business” BS one more time, here’s a fun statistic for you. How much of the state’s budget comes from corporate taxes? The last time I looked it was 4%. Whoa, that’s some heavy tax burden for those poor corporations! And let’s not even talk about the corporations that report profits, sometimes LARGE profits, to Wall Street, yet somehow manage to pay NO KENTUCKY TAXES AT ALL.
Greyson’s rhetoric sounds good — but his policies are the same as David Williams and Grover Norquist. Without more revenue from somewhere — actually, many somewheres, this state will continue to lag behind in education, healthcare, and quality of life and workforce.
And that is the worst corporate tax of all.
2 E // Dec 12, 2008 at 7:16 am
Actually Bruce (and by the way, love most of your posts)…one could look at it this way;
First of all, what else is there to tax other than ‘productivity’ ? If corporations and individuals aren’t productive I would have to figure that they may not be profitable…no productivity…no profit…no taxes.
Second, If you read into it, what Mr. Grayson has left the door open for is the potential for possible increase on profitable yet non’productive’ types of activity. (Now you see it don’t you ?) Capital gain types of taxation is apparently still on the table. The recurring populist contention is, that in addition to often being assessed at a lower rate, cap gain types of returns are often little more than profits from money changers, and do not represent productivity. I’d have to figure the “NO KENTUCKY TAXES AT ALL” you reference probably take this form.
This could be a very encouraging and fair statement from Trey Grayson…if you’d allow yourself to see it.
Oppressive taxation on the middle class is what is destroying the middle class. You need look no further than your own factoid that corporations pay 4%, if it isn’t coming from corporate taxation, you get one guess where it IS coming from. It becomes obvious that the politicians of this state and nation are sucking the life out of the middle class…while redistributing it to both the well connected (bailouts and fat contracts), and the non productive.
As anyone can tell by now, I have NO problem with Trey Grayson’s staement.
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