Taxing logic in the Kentucky legislature

Politicians generally tilt in the direction of convenience and opportunism rather than toward strict logical consistency. So does human nature, for that matter.

Some logical inconsistencies are worth remarking, though, such as the one exhibited by 12 Republican lawmakers who voted for a state budget but against the tax package on which that budget depended.

Call them the Wishful Thinking Caucus.

Or the We Want to Tell Teachers We Supported Them While Telling Voters We Opposed Tax Increases Profiles In Courage (Not).

That desire to have it both ways could come into even greater play as the Republican-controlled legislature heads into what promises to be a suspenseful finale:

Will they or won’t they override Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s vetoes of the budget, a package of tax increases and cuts, and a measure that protects local governments and school boards from steep increases in pension costs while giving nonprofits a pension plan exit option that Bevin says poses too great a risk to the state?

If they fold and sustain Bevin’s veto of the tax increases but override his veto of the budget, the governor could call them into special session to enact a budget and the more sweeping tax overhaul that he says he wants.

Or he could choose to manage the expected budget shortfalls by unilaterally cutting state spending, rewriting the budget himself. (A longshot third possibility is that economic growth will fuel enough increase in state revenue to balance the budget without the tax increases.)

The budget and tax plan were approved on party-line votes April 2 when the Capitol was full of teachers rallying to protect their pensions and public schools. Things were moving fast, too fast to catch errors that have since been discovered in the tax changes.

But not so fast that lawmakers couldn’t see that the budget depended on the tax increases.

In his veto, Bevin said the budget was structurally unbalanced even with the tax increases. So what are the chances that it balanced without them?

The changes, which were approved with only Republican votes and no votes to spare, are expected to generate more than $200 million in new revenue by imposing the 6 percent sales tax on 17 services, including car repair; increasing the cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack; raising the income tax on some small businesses; while reducing income taxes for most individuals and corporations.

Also passed with only Republican votes, the final budget averted the brutal cuts to education contained in both the Senate budget and Bevin’s spending plan. The budget also fully funded public employee pensions. (Don’t believe GOP talking points that this is a good budget for education; it merely avoids what could have been much worse while cutting state support for colleges and universities by 6.25 percent.)

Before the moment passes, we wanted you to know which lawmakers voted to have it both ways: Yes on a budget that avoided some painful cuts to public schools, but no on raising the necessary revenue:

In the House, Reps. John Blanton of Salyersville, Robert Goforth of East Bernstadt, David Hale of Wellington, Stan Lee of Lexington, C. Wesley Morgan of Richmond, Bob Rothenberger of Shelbyville, Ken Upchurch of Monticello and Jill York of Grayson.

In the Senate: Tom Buford of Nicholasville, John Schickel of Union, Wil Schroder of Wilder and Max Wise of Campbellsville.

This story was originally published April 13, 2018 at 7:55 AM with the headline "Taxing logic in the Kentucky legislature."