Universal preschool, affordable child care, well-resourced K-12 classrooms, substance use treatment, mental health care, an end to our social worker crisis, rejuvenated state parks and enough meals on wheels for all hungry seniors: These are just a handful of the public services lawmakers could provide for in this year’s budget that would pave the way to more prosperous, equitable communities where all Kentuckians can thrive.

But unless they hear from enough of us, legislators will squander record amounts of money on massive income tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate giveaways. The top 1% already have gotten so many tax breaks, they pay just 6.7 cents of every dollar of their income in state and local taxes, while the rest of Kentuckians pay as much as 11.1 cents for each dollar they earn.

Decades of failed tax cutting experiments in Kentucky and other states have shown us what really happens when lawmakers cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations.

• The wealthy get wealthier by taking dollars out of our state and local economies. The top 1% of Kentucky earners already make $1.4 million a year on average, but would get an additional $11,000 annually from a 1% income tax rate cut, for instance. That giveaway will lead to more reckless speculation on Wall Street and fewer dollars circulating in our communities.
• Tax cuts lead to big cuts in critical public services. Cutting the income tax rate from 5% to 4% would cost Kentucky more money than we spend on all eight state universities and 16 community colleges. Cutting it from just 5% to 4.9% would cost more than the state spends on preschool. Kentuckians pay for tax cuts for the wealthy through closed child care centers, shuttered libraries, wait lists for services, skyrocketing college tuition and other slashed programs in our communities.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy leave everyday Kentuckians struggling to make ends meet. That is because lawmakers often increase state sales taxes to make up for the revenue lost to tax cuts for the wealthy – forcing people with lower incomes to pay more.

Your voice matters, and it’s time to let lawmakers in Frankfort hear from you. Don’t give away our future in more tax breaks to the wealthy. Instead require they pay what they owe so that we can make our communities and economy stronger.