Kentucky House Minority Whip John Carney does not see clear sailing for a proposed local option sales tax in the new session of the General Assembly.
Republican John Carney of Campbellsville says the idea has some merit but some members of his caucus probably won’t go along with anything connected to a possible tax increase.
Carney addressed the plan Monday (Jan. 5) on KET’s “Kentucky Tonight.”
“I know in my community, there’s been some folks who want to do a significant sports complex because they think it can bring dollars into our community, tourism, etc. It will never happen without something like this. You have the local officials who could overrule that mechanism if they want to, so I think it’s got some merits in that regard, but I would say, at least from the House Republican caucus it would be a very split issue,” –John Carney
The proposal lawmakers are reviewing has several components.
First, the General Assembly would have to approve a bill permitting local governments to submit sales tax issues to their voters.
If passed, the matter would then be placed on the statewide ballot for Kentucky voters to decide. If that’s approved, city and county governments could then propose taxes for specific projects, which would also require passage by local voters.
Those taxes would expire when the projects are finished.
