Kentucky's Lieutenant Governor admits the odds of passing state tax reform this year are slim to none. Speaking in Bowling Green yesterday (Wednesday), Jerry Abramson said he thinks his Blue Ribbon Tax Commission is creating conditions for reform to be taken up in the 2014 General Assembly. Abramson was asked if he would like any of the commission's recommendations to be put in a bill this year.
"Someone said to me that one of the legislators was going to put all 54 in a bill and throw it in the hopper," Abramson said. "So, there may be one. But I do not expect it to move forward because of the supermajority."
"And so the feeling of the Blue Ribbon Tax Commission was that the first $30,000 that a person receives from their pension should be tax-free, which is basically where a family of three or four in Kentucky is today," Abramson said. "So you get that free in terms of the average, and after that you would pay regular tax as income tax."
Any legislation impacting state tax rates would require a three-fifths supermajority in both chambers of the current 30-day General Assembly. Some lawmakers have discussed the possibility of taking on tax reform during a special session later this year. But Abramson said the chances are better in 2014, when a simple majority vote would suffice.