Tagged: jane driskell

Kentucky has huge declines in revenue from key tax sources despite a rebounding national economy. State Budget Director Jane Driskell released a monthly revenue report for April today showing corporate income tax revenue is down by nearly 90 percent.

Property tax collections fell 53.5 percent for the month. Cigarette tax revenue is down 22.2 percent. And collections from the all-important sales tax were off 7.3 percent. The two bright spots in the monthly report are a 5.5 percent increase in income tax revenue and an 18.6 percent rise in coal severance tax collections.

A tax amnesty program is being credited with pushing up General Fund revenue by 3.8 percent in January. State Budget Director Jane Driskell says individual income tax revenue rose by more than 35 percent and corporate income tax receipts rose nearly 83 percent as those who took advantage of the amnesty offer paid up.

Come January, a new woman will be in charge of the Kentucky budget for the Governor’s Office. Since 2007, Mary Lassiter has been Governor Steve Beshear’s budget director. And in 2009, she took a promotion as Secretary of the Cabinet as well, serving both roles. But Beshear has now hired Jane Driskell, a longtime budget director for state and local government, as his new state budget director.