Aligning Kentucky’s Tax Code for Growth

Executive Summary

Overview

TaxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. reform has been on Kentucky lawmakers’ minds for years, and while significant progress has been made recently, substantial work remains to be done. In 2018, the General Assembly made important strides in creating a more neutral, pro-growth tax structure even while generating a net increase in revenue. With its reduction in income tax rates, consolidation of brackets, and modest sales tax base broadening, Kentucky put itself on the map as a state that is serious about reorienting its tax structure to enhance productivity and promote economic growth.

Much has changed in the world since 2018, with taxpayers and governments everywhere confronting new challenges on top of the old ones. There’s more motivation than ever to remove barriers that for too long have stood in the way of individuals’ and communities’ ability to thrive.

Kentucky’s challenges are many—the state continues to lag the national average in terms of personal income growth, gross state product growth, and state inbound migration—but the Commonwealth’s opportunities are greater. In this new era of increased workplace flexibility, where many people are leaving high-tax, high cost-of-living states in favor of more affordable alternatives, Kentucky holds a competitive advantage.

Many similarly situated states are seizing opportunities to make their states more attractive to individuals and businesses alike, and pro-growth tax reforms have been central to those efforts, with 11 states enacting laws to reduce their income tax rates in 2021 alone and more expected to come in 2022.

Kentucky is projected to experience robust revenue growth over the next few years, presenting a valuable opportunity for policymakers to pursue reforms. Ultimately, the goal of tax reform should be to enable the state and local governments to raise sufficient revenue to fund government services in a manner that avoids hindering business productivity, job growth, and personal wage growth.

In the pages that follow, we identify numerous structural deficiencies in Kentucky’s tax code and outline a series of reform solutions. Several of these reform solutions could be implemented on their own because their revenue impacts would be minimal, while others would be possible through revenue triggers that tie future reforms to future growth, and still others could be accomplished through tax swaps that reduce reliance on economically harmful taxes by increasing reliance on less harmful alternatives. (Pay-fors, where appropriate, are discussed throughout the publication.) All of these reforms—whether taken a few at a time or more comprehensively—would make the state’s tax code more structurally sound and more conductive to fostering long-term economic growth.

Menu of Kentucky Tax Reform Solutions

Business Taxes

Kentucky has relatively well-structured and competitive corporate and individual income taxes at the state level but is held back by substantial taxes on business and personal productivity at the local level, as well as a complex state gross receipts tax on limited liability businesses. Kentucky also has room for improvement in its treatment of business investments and in its heavy reliance on incentives that add complexity to the tax code. The following recommendations would create a more competitive environment for businesses that would encourage long-term investment in Kentucky.

• Repeal the Limited Liability Entity Tax (LLET), imposed on C corporations and limited liability pass-through entities based on gross receipts, thus burdening startups, low-margin businesses, and companies experiencing losses.
• Reduce the corporate income taxA corporate income tax (CIT) is levied by federal and state governments on business profits. Many companies are not subject to the CIT because they are taxed as pass-through businesses, with income reportable under the individual income tax. rate, particularly given the continued existence of local net profit taxes which raise the overall burden of this harmful tax well above the 5 percent state rate.
• Improve treatment of business capital investments, raising the Section 179 expensing allowance for small businesses and offering permanent full expensingFull expensing allows businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of certain investments in new or improved technology, equipment, or buildings. It alleviates a bias in the tax code and incentivizes companies to invest more, which, in the long run, raises worker productivity, boosts wages, and creates more jobs. like that available under IRC Section 168(k) to reduce the tax code’s bias against investments in machinery and equipment.
• Evaluate and streamline incentives, empowering the Legislative Research Commission to evaluate the economic impact of these incentives and convening a commission or committee to study the LRC’s findings.
• Use revenue triggers to phase in reforms, ensuring revenue stability and reducing uncertainty while phasing in rate relief or pro-growth structural reforms.

Individual Taxes and Municipal Income Taxation

In 2018, the General Assembly significantly improved the individual income taxAn individual income tax (or personal income tax) is levied on the wages, salaries, investments, or other forms of income an individual or household earns. The U.S. imposes a progressive income tax where rates increase with income. The Federal Income Tax was established in 1913 with the ratification of the 16th Amendment. Though barely 100 years old, individual income taxes are the largest source of tax revenue in the U.S. by consolidating six brackets into one and reducing the rate, using modest sales tax base broadening as an offset. While these reforms significantly improved the Commonwealth’s competitiveness and mitigated its overreliance on income taxes, there remains work to be done. Over the past two decades, Kentucky has lagged its competitors in terms of growth in gross state product, personal income, and inbound migration. States with no or low income taxes perform well on these metrics, and other states are increasingly taking notice and reducing taxes on productivity as a way to improve their competitive standing in an increasingly mobile economy.

• Pay down individual income tax rate reductions with sales taxA sales tax is levied on retail sales of goods and services and, ideally, should apply to all final consumption with few exemptions. Many governments exempt goods like groceries; base broadening, such as including groceries, could keep rates lower. A sales tax should exempt business-to-business transactions which, when taxed, cause tax pyramiding. modernization, creating a more stable and pro-growth tax system.
• Shift from local income taxes, granting localities the authority to levy less harmful taxes in lieu of occupational license and net profit taxes, which are uncommon elsewhere.
• Shift to single sales factor apportionmentApportionment is the determination of the percentage of a business’ profits subject to a given jurisdiction’s corporate income or other business taxes. U.S. states apportion business profits based on some combination of the percentage of company property, payroll, and sales located within their borders. of local net profit taxes, ensuring that local taxation aligns with state-level apportionment.

Sales and Use Taxes

Kentucky has one of the lower sales tax rates in the country and is among a minority of states prohibiting local governments from using a sales tax as part of their revenue toolkit. Kentucky’s under-reliance on sales taxes leaves state and local governments turning to more economically harmful alternatives. In addition, despite valuable reforms undertaken in 2018, the sales tax baseThe tax base is the total amount of income, property, assets, consumption, transactions, or other economic activity subject to taxation by a tax authority. A narrow tax base is non-neutral and inefficient. A broad tax base reduces tax administration costs and allows more revenue to be raised at lower rates. still falls short of capturing modern personal consumption patterns. If policymakers are to pursue comprehensive tax reform that rebalances Kentucky’s revenue source toward growth, sales tax modernization is a critical piece of that puzzle.

• Modernize the sales tax base, capturing more final consumption to generate additional revenue that can be used to reduce reliance on more economically harmful taxes.
• Allow a local option sales tax, permitting municipalities to levy sales taxes in lieu of more economically harmful taxes, including net profit and occupational license taxes on business and personal income, inventory, and other taxes on tangible personal property.
• Consider raising the state sales tax rate, using rate increases to offset income tax rate reductions that would yield a highly competitive income tax environment while keeping Kentucky’s sales tax in line with, or more competitive than, regional peers.

Property and Inheritance Taxes

Kentucky is one of a few states that uses property taxes as both a local and state revenue source, but the Commonwealth’s real property taxA property tax is primarily levied on immovable property like land and buildings, as well as on tangible personal property that is movable, like vehicles and equipment. Property taxes are the single largest source of state and local revenue in the U.S. and help fund schools, roads, police, and other services. collections are quite modest, due in large part to rate and levy limits that have been in place for decades. However, taxes on business inventory, machinery, and equipment, as well as inheritance taxes on individuals, introduce complexity and economic distortions into the property tax code. Kentucky has an opportunity to rebalance its revenue sources away from economically distortive taxes on tangible property and toward far less economically harmful taxes on real property.

• Repeal the inventory tax or improve the inventory tax creditA tax credit is a provision that reduces a taxpayer’s final tax bill, dollar-for-dollar. A tax credit differs from deductions and exemptions, which reduce taxable income, rather than the taxpayer’s tax bill directly. , ensuring that a 2018 policy intended to blunt the impact of the inventory tax actually provides relief for business taxpayers.
• Create a de minimis exemption for tangible personal property (TPP) taxes, eliminating compliance costs for businesses with minimal liability.
• Modify the local property tax recall provision, replacing it with a more straightforward system of voter ratification of increases above the cap.
• Permit one-time property tax rate adjustment in excess of limits to rebalance local tax bases, should an effort be made to shift local governments away from municipal income taxation.
• Raise the state real property tax rate to offset income tax rate reductions, providing a stable source of revenue that could be used to yield highly competitive income tax rates even as combined property tax burdens remain at or below national averages.
• Repeal the inheritance taxAn inheritance tax is levied upon an individual’s estate at death or upon the assets transferred from the decedent’s estate to their heirs. Unlike estate taxes, inheritance tax exemptions apply to the size of the gift rather than the size of the estate. , an outlier tax (only six states tax inheritances) which drives people out of Kentucky while generating only $48 million in revenue in FY 2020.

Other Taxes

While it is understandable that Kentucky’s largest sources of state and local tax revenue—income, sales, and property taxes, respectively—have been the primary focus of public discourse, other taxes have important fiscal and economic implications and deserve policymakers’ attention. Kentucky’s gas tax—a critical source of revenue for the Road Fund—has been raised infrequently, has failed to keep up with inflation, and has lost much of its purchasing power over time. Likewise, the unemployment insurance (UI) tax, which is paid by businesses and funds Kentucky’s unemployment compensation (UC) trust fund, has numerous structural deficiencies that ought to be reexamined.

• Reform the gas taxA gas tax is commonly used to describe the variety of taxes levied on gasoline at both the federal and state levels, to provide funds for highway repair and maintenance, as well as for other government infrastructure projects. These taxes are levied in a few ways, including per-gallon excise taxes, excise taxes imposed on wholesalers, and general sales taxes that apply to the purchase of gasoline. by converting from a variable-rate to a specific tax, raising the gas tax rate, and indexing it for inflationInflation is when the general price of goods and services increases across the economy, reducing the purchasing power of a currency and the value of certain assets. The same paycheck covers less goods, services, and bills. It is sometimes referred to as a “hidden tax,” as it leaves taxpayers less well-off due to higher costs and “bracket creep,” while increasing the government’s spending power. to ensure that it remains a viable revenue stream for transportation expenditures going forward.
• Use federal funds to replenish the UC trust fund, beginning to build up a fund that has been insolvent for decades.
• Charge employers UI tax according to base period wages, to avoid disincentivizing the hiring of laid off workers.
• Further reform UI taxes by shortening experience rating qualifying periods and repealing the solvency tax, allowing businesses to more quickly earn the lower tax rates associated with keeping layoffs to a minimum and reducing the degree to which UI taxes rise when they are likely to have the most adverse effect.

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