Taxes and other revenues.

• Author: Ramsey, James R.
• Position: From the Library

The Economics and Politics of Revenue Reform: A Case Study

James R. Ramsey

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Fall 2002, pp. 3 95-419.

This paper presents a case study of Governor Paul E. Patton's initiative to reform the tax system in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The original reform had three major goals: (1) restore revenues that had been cut or that could not be collected, while enhancing general fund elasticity to ensure future revenue growth; (2) provide greater fairness in the tax system; and (3) enhance the economic competitiveness of the state. The first section of the paper outlines the original revenue reform proposal, which was an attempt to modify the following taxes: the individual income tax, the corporate income tax, the state property tax, various consumption taxes, parimutuel taxes, and the road fund. The total package was estimated to raise a total of $312 million in new revenues by the second year of the biennium, slightly less than the amount of revenue foregone in recent tax...