Tax Reform Commission Beginning to Look like the Farce We Expected
So far, Steve Beshear's Tax Reform Commission looks like an orchestrated effort to demand tax hikes to support a major spending increase.
We knew the Commission itself was stacked with liberal and big-government interests, and that tax hikes were practically written into the mission statement.
Now the Commission has held its first two meetings in a series of stops around the state. At each stop, liberal interests like the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, the KEA and other members of the education establishment have lined up to beg for more tax dollars from Frankfort. In fact, only one presenter in four hours of presentations has really even suggested the creation of jobs as a criteria.
What is supposedly a Commission to discuss Kentucky's tax code spends most of its time discussing spending.
The rumors circulating around the Commission suggest that a recommendation for a $1 billion tax increase is in the works. The more cynical rumors suggest that the whole setup is just a bait and switch for another failed Beshear casino push, where he pits a fictitious need for a $1 billion tax hike against the fictitious need for casinos.
Jim Booth and the few pro-growth members on the Commission better be working on a plan to divorce themselves from this liberal commission and the disastrous track it seems to be taking.
