Moberly and 'Revenue Enhancers'
A bill to give lemurs tax breaks passed out of the Kentucky House budget committee today. (HB262)
Why?
It's a vehicle to enclose tax increases foisted upon the full Kentucky House by committee chairman Harry Moberly.
Let's leave aside for a moment the fact that this piece of legislation is most likely to end up as a tax increase. (I know, I know)
Did anyone on the committee express any objection that the bill under consideration is fundamentally different from the bill they'll eventually see on the floor of the house? Probably not, given that the lawmakers in the committee chuckled and joked about the bill.
That bills go to committee before they come to the full chamber is a function of having some degree of expertise applied to legislation before a terrible piece of legislation can become law. It's precisely the purpose of committees to raise credible objections to legislation before it goes further down the road to passage.
Unfortunately for Kentucky taxpayers, committee members abrogated their duty to make sure that the bills they consider are in the best shape before their fellow lawmakers vote on them.
Moberly, instead of giving his committee a chance to vote on substantive legislation, denied them the opportunity to vote against a tax hike and made his committee a sad farce.
