Kentucky lawmakers may consider an amendment to the Kentucky constitution to permit cities to seek a temporary local sales tax, during next year's legislative session.
The primary push for the amendment comes from the advocacy group the Kentucky League of Cities. The up-to-1-percent tax increase would only be for a specific community project for a limited period of time as defined on a local ballot initiative.
1st district state Sen. Stan Humphries said he’ll carefully consider the proposal, but said it could give Kentuckians the choice to direct their money toward their community’s infrastructure needs or economic development.
“This is something that’s come up, and it would be varying of course to community to community how much that total potential of one percent would be,” Humphries said. “There are some estimates floating out there about how much it would be, and they range from you know, a hundred or two hundred thousand dollars to millions of dollars for some communities.”
The Kentucky League of Cities believes city officials need more revenue options and greater flexibility to tailor their tax policies to fit their communities.
The KLC will also seek legislation that would expand the authority to impose a restaurant tax to all cities, as well as reduce the number of city classes and support the restructuring of road aid formulas to allocate money to cities with higher traffic areas.
