… big time. Throw in the demands of jury duty, and you have all of my excuses for the blog being for a couple of days. But on the state level, at least, nothing much has been missed, at least nothing that can’t be handled in a couple of quickies.
1. State House and Senate budget committees have begun separate, and duplicative, hearings on the consequences of a projected $456 million revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year. Did it not occur to the folks in charge of the General Assembly that joint hearings would be more efficient for everyone concerned? After all, there is a cost involved (of time, if not tax dollars) when administration officials have to deliver the same testimony to two different panels that could just as easily be meeting as one. But hey, legislative leaders aren’t nearly as concerned about efficiency as they are about using these hearings to stake out each chamber’s position going into the hard bargaining that lies ahead. So, the show(s) must go on - and on and on.
2. Speaking of posturing, uh, I mean positioning, it wouldn’t be a General Assembly session if Senate President David Williams wasn’t engaging in misdirection, as he did Monday on Kentucky Tonight by suggesting that a statewide ban on smoking in public places would be preferable to an increase in the cigarette tax. As a former smoker, I’ve never been a big supporter of smoking bans. They run against my libertarian instincts. But the smoking question isn’t an either-or choice between a statewide ban or higher taxes, despite Williams’ attempt to portray it that way. Each of those issues should stand or fall on its own.
Larry Dale Keeling, a columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader, has spent most of his 35-plus years in journalism reporting on or writing editorials and columns about Kentucky’s politics and political issues. He now brings his experience and expertise on those topics to the KyKurmudgeon blog.
Larry,
You need to get well and start on this tobacco tax issue.
I noticed today that the Feds are going to raise their tax
(they said tax, not user fee) by 61 cents a pack.
Now if we do that and add 70 cents plus 6% sales tax we are going
to get an extra $1.39 per pack. The merchant will probably have to
add on a little more because of this increased investment and
suddenly you have $1.50 a pack or $15.00 a carton increase. This
will double the price of some cigarettes. Ought to make the anti-s
happy, but the whole point is that the amount of sales may decrease
much more than expected with an increase in tax revenues of much
less. Tax reform, sales tax increases, alcohol increases, etc.
should all be vetted.
The cigarette tax is a “smoke” screen to avoid the real issues involved.
“Did it not occur to the folks in charge of the General Assembly that joint hearings would be more efficient for everyone concerned?”
As a former state employee, I have always said you can’t put state government and common sense in the same sentence.