Lawmakers on both sides of aisle are reacting to Gov. Steve Beshear’s tax reform proposal.
The plan announced Tuesday expands sales tax to new services such as car repair while lowering the top corporate tax rate by one tenth of a percent.
While stopping short of endorsing or ruling out any of the 22 measures included in the reform package Tuesday, Senate president Robert Stivers told reporters he would like to see projections that show how many new jobs might be created by instituting the new policies.
"I would like to see on certain issues what I call dynamic scoring... It increases the base, more people are put to work, more opportunity is created, therefore more people paying taxes, but not the individual being subjected to any more taxes themselves," he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Jim Wayne says the governor’s plan is a good start, but he’s disappointed that Beshear did not introduce a higher earned income tax credit for workers at the bottom.
"My concern is about the middle class, the working people, and the poor. The earned income tax credit included in here is half of what was recommended and, despite what the Lt. Gov. said, there was full support for a 15 percent income tax credit at the state level and he's halved that," Wayne says.
Gov. Beshear says tax reform should only be brought up on floor of the House and Senate if a consensus can be reached in both chambers beforehand.
