Thursday, February 24, 2000
Patton eases off tax hike package
GOP cool to revised proposal
BY MARK R. CHELLGREN
The Associated Press
FRANKFORT — Gov. Patton backed off of most of his proposals for tax increases Wednesday but still wants the General Assembly to raise $178 million for the General Fund in the next two years.
Legislators, especially Senate Republicans who took much of the credit for killing Mr. Patton's original proposal, are not too much more taken with his second push.
Mr. Patton, though, said anything less than his plan means the state will not move forward in the next two years. He will oppose any such budget plan.
Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, declined once again to take a position on Mr. Patton's proposal, except to say it was better than the original and Republicans would prefer no tax increases at all.
The end of Mr. Patton's original budget was almost anticlimactic, coming during a late news conference after a day of consulting with legislators of both parties and both chambers. Nevertheless, Senate President David Williams still was miffed that his party was not consulted about Mr. Patton's revised package until after the public announcement.
The idea of a 7-cent addition to the gasoline tax was the biggest weight to sink the original Patton budget, especially at a time when prices for fuel have risen to near-record levels.
“The gas tax just came at an absolutely, unbelievably grotesque, horrible, horrible time,” said Senate Democratic leader David Karem.
Mr. Patton wants the legislature to enact a 7 percent state tax on interstate long-distance telephone calls and cable and satellite TV services. That is 1 percent higher than his original proposal and would bring in an estimated $157.7 million in the next two years. Many customers would not notice the full amount because the tax would also replace many of the local government levies on such services, with the state returning money it collected to those schools, cities and counties.
The other two tax measures are much more modest. One would make limited liability companies subject to the corporate license tax. The other would make a minor change in the property tax to exclude new property from the calculation made every year to ensure that state property tax revenues do not rise by more than 4 percent.
Gone from Mr. Patton's package, though, are tax cuts for hundreds of thousands of low-income Kentuckians from the income tax, removal of the sales tax on prescription drugs dispensed at places other than pharmacies, and the state property tax on motor vehicles and boats.
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