Courier Journal Editoral April 7, 2004
Gov. Ernie Fletcher is trying to pull a fast one on the people of Kentucky. Before anybody really figures out what's going on, he's trying to flummox Kentucky's House into accepting the flawed tax plan that Senate Republicans, without any of the normal debate or review, grafted onto the state budget at the 11th hour last week.
As their actions suggested, that plan is an embarrassing excuse for the "tax modernization" that the Governor originally promised and that the state desperately needs.
It would, of course, answer several of the business community's prayers and also lighten the overall load on the state's most well-heeled families.
But to do that, its net effect would also be to raise the burden on lower-income and middle-class families as a whole.
The real problem, though, is that so little would be gained in return.
The plan would accomplish little of real importance for the state, either by making the tax system markedly more modern and competitive or by ensuring that revenues keep pace with the costs of the schools, roads and services Kentucky needs.
The inadequacy of the state's outmoded tax system is now on painful display, for all to see and suffer. But instead of seizing this moment to secure Kentucky's future for years to come, the Governor's plan would squander that moment and shortchange that future.
His actions this week give away just how paltry the vision behind this package is. He's traveling the state telling communities that the sky's going to fall on the construction projects they want if the House doesn't agree to his plan right now.
This claim is logically ludicrous, of course. For one thing, it's coming out of the same mouth that insists his plan won't produce any more revenue in the short term, for those projects or anything else.
For another, the Governor intends to make sure that the long term won't be much better by proposing a "trigger" that would cut income tax rates even more in the future.
The fact is that the real, abiding interests of Kentucky communities won't be well-served by quick passage of this plan.
The progress their schools have started to make is in jeopardy because of inadequate funding.
The availability and quality of their children's postsecondary education are in jeopardy because of inadequate funding.
The ability of their poor, elderly and disabled to get the health and nursing home care they need is in jeopardy because of inadequate funding.
The repair of their existing roads and the prospects for new ones are in jeopardy because of inadequate funding.
Kentuckians must not accept a tax reform plan that fails to address those fundamental realities — that simply shifts the burdens around while condemning the state's public institutions and infrastructure to remain uncompetitive with those of other states.
Kentucky needs a full and vigorous debate over how to achieve that competitiveness, not the short-sighted package and short-circuited process the Governor is pushing.
Posted by UFCW 227 at April 7, 2004 12:19 PM