Bill Seeks Elimination of State Income Tax

This from the Jessamine Journal:

Two of Kentucky’s state representatives are sponsoring a bill for the upcoming General Assembly that would abolish the state’s income tax and lower the sales tax from 6 percent to 5 percent.

Rep. Bill Farmer, R-Lexington, and Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, filed a bill to amend KRS 139.010 to eliminate the tax on income for all Kentucky workers, a practice that has been adopted in nine other states — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. To offset the lost revenue from the income tax, the bill would extend the 5-percent sales tax to areas that were not previously taxed, such as services and commercial real estate. According to Farmer, that 5 percent will be enough to fund the Kentucky budget.

The thought behind getting rid of the tax is that more money will go directly into the pockets of citizens.

“When you call the plumber every 18 to 24 months, you are going to have to pay five cents on the dollar for what the plumber does for you which you are not paying right now,” Farmer said. “But if you are decent at controlling your money, you will have the money to do it with...