2008 House Bill 262 (Increase multiple Kentucky taxes)

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Introduced by Rep. Jim Wayne (D) on January 10, 2008, to increase taxes on tobacco products, motor fuels, and increase the sales tax on various services.
- Referred to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee on January 15, 2008.
- Referred in the House on March 4, 2008, favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar .
- Substitute offered in the House on March 4, 2008, to replace all existing language with a sales tax exemption for lemurs.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Bill Farmer (R) on March 11, 2008, to sunset the 25 cent surtax cigarettes and the 6.25% increase on other tobacco products on June 30, 2010.
- Amendment offered by Rep. David Floyd (R) on March 11, 2008, to sunset the cigarette tax increase on June 30, 2010.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Harry Moberly, Jr. (D) on March 11, 2008, to allow one-tenth of one cent ($0.001) of the July 1, 2008 increase in motor fuels taxes to be shared with local governments.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (D) on March 11, 2008, to increase the cigarette tax by thirty five cents per pack and require that ten cents of that increase be used to fund mental health and substance abuse services provided by regional mental health and mental retardation boards.
- Amendment offered by Rep. David Watkins (D) on March 11, 2008, to remove the provisions in the bill imposing sales tax on certain services and increase the cigarette tax by thirty cents per pack.
- Substitute offered in the House on March 11, 2008, to increase the cigarette tax by 25 cents per pack, raise tobacco taxes, motor fuels taxes, and sales tax on various services.
- The substitute passed in the House by voice vote on March 12, 2008.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Jeffrey Hoover (R) on March 11, 2008, to suspend the application of the prevailing wage law for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, for all public works projects.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Harry Moberly, Jr. (D) on March 12, 2008, to remove requirement for earmark of cancer research penny and remove quarterly limit of average wholesale price increase for motor fuels tax. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on March 12, 2008.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Bill Farmer (R) on March 12, 2008, to provide a sunset provision on certain tax increases dated June 30, 2010.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Tim Moore (R) on March 12, 2008, to create a tax credit for individuals participating in a smoking cessation treatment program.
Passed in the House (50 to 45) on March 12, 2008. [Vote Details and Comments]
Received in the Senate on March 13, 2008.
- Amendment offered by Sen. David E. Boswell (D) on March 13, 2008, to exempt air ambulance providers from the sales tax on air charter services.
  - Withdrawn in the Senate on March 27, 2008.
- Referred to the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee on March 17, 2008.
- Reported in the Senate on March 26, 2008, favorably, to Rules.
- Substitute offered in the Senate on March 26, 2008, to delete all provisions in the original bill and substitute with a rebate of income taxes paid by active duty military members and appropriate $10 million to the military service rebate fund. The substitute also creates a sales tax refund for governmental entities in counties with populations under 100,000 that own and operate a multipurpose facility available for public arts, sports, and entertainment performances. The substitute also provides individual income tax, corporation income tax, limited liability entity tax, and sales tax incentives for locating a film production facility in Kentucky or filming or producing a motion picture production in Kentucky.
- The substitute passed in the Senate by voice vote on March 27, 2008.
- Amendment offered by Sen. Dan Kelly (R) on March 26, 2008, to include video services regardless of the method of delivery in the definition of multichannel video programming service for the purpose of offering tax breaks for motion picture productions.
- The amendment passed in the Senate by voice vote on March 27, 2008.
- Amendment offered by Sen. Ray S. Jones, II (D) on March 26, 2008, to allow the rebate of sales taxes collected from the sale of tangible personal property to a governmental entity operating a public facility.
- The amendment passed in the Senate by voice vote on March 27, 2008.
Passed in the Senate (33 to 0) on March 27, 2008. [Vote Details and Comments]
Received in the House on March 28, 2008.
- Referred to the House Rules Committee on March 28, 2008.

Most Recent Comments

1) NO NEW TAXES!!! [by Anonymous Citizen on August 27, 2008]
Cut the pork out of the bills already passed and up for votes and cut your expense accounts and salaries. You shouldn't be paid for doing nothing.
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2) KENTUCKY BUDGET [by Anonymous Citizen on August 17, 2008]
Our state legislature is going to have to make very hard choices and votes even if they do not personally agree with them.We need to raise taxes on all tobacco products , all alcoholic beer and wine products.Everything needs to be look at ( even start collecting taxes on churches and church properties , they should no longer be given a tax exemption ).We are i think going be looking at serious budget shortfalls for years and years to come , maybe to 2012 to 2020.
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3) Always tax someone for liking something? [by Anonymous Citizen on August 16, 2008]
I think it's funny how smokers are always the backfall to a budget deficit. But yet, millions are generated in income tax revenue from farmers growing the tobacco, then smokers when they buy it. I wonder why they always choose to pick on just a small portion of the economy to make up for the budget, rather than tax something that effects everyone to make it equal. And to think that the tax will actual raise the cost of cigarettes much is a crazy thought. Do you actually think that all of the burden will be put onto smokers? Do you think that Phillip Morris really wants people to quit smoking so that they can make less money? Tobacco farmers will be taking the biggest hit. There is no longer any tobacco base, which means that there is no guarantee that Phillip Morris will give tobacco farmers a good price for their tobacco when they go to sell it to them. All Phillip Morris will do is pay the farmer less to keep the cost of cigarettes down so that they will still sell the same amount of cigs for the same price and make the same profit. The only reason Phillip Morris pays for the advertisements to quit smoking is because the government makes them pay for it. Don't think that isn't already factored into the cost of cigarettes too. Next, the state legislature will be proposing to fit our noses with smoke detectors. These will rate the amount of smoke that enters our lungs and the meter will turn like it does on your electric meter for your home. At tax time, you will have to write that # down on your tax forms to see how much money you owe for using your privilege to smoke.

Smoking Bans:

ATTENTION NON-SMOKERS --- You have the right to choose not to visit a public restaurant that allows smoking, just the same as we do for a restaurant that doesn't allow smoking. Our rights on this issue is 50/50 --- Don't understand why they don't leave this option up the business owner. They are the ones that own the building. They should be the ones that are allowed to choose whether or not the smoker feels welcome, or the non-smoker feels welcome. I would like to know what makes all of you think that you have the right to make these decisions for the people who own the public facilities. They have the business investment, you don't... SIMPLE AS THAT. If you don't like the fact that a restaurant allows smoking, then open a restaurant of your own that doesn't allow smoking. We have the right to breath air full of smoke, just like you have the right to breath fresh air. What is hilarious about all of this is that all of the non-smokers say that it is about their health concerns. If this is the case, then why are you out eating at a restaurant with greasy hamburgers, steaks, loaded baked potatoes, etc? OH NO, I shouldn't have said that, next they will try to add more taxes to that also. Also, they have said that cell phones produce radioactive waves that can cause brain tumors. Next time you go to a restaurant to eat, take a look around and see how many people left their cell phones in their cars for the health concerns of OTHER PEOPLE. You all keep allowing the government to step in and tell you what you can smoke, drink, etc., then they will just keep going a step further. Next, they will be kicking out McDonalds, Arby's, etc., because that is to unhealthy for us to eat. In Louisville they have already proposed to end all public smoking altogether, even in your own car. I think this is hilarious. You would be able to stop at McDonalds to get a Big Mac, then get on the road to eat and drive, but you can't smoke a cigarette in your own car. Let me know what you all think on that.

They claim that all of this is to help smokers quit, but they don't want you to quit, the tax revenue is too high for them to want you to quit. They just like to use it as a reason to raise taxes on other people besides themselves.

One more statistic that kills me -

The government claims that the extra taxes are all to fund the extra cost of medicare paid out for smokers that have health trouble later in life.

They never associate the next statistic along with that at the same time.

"Smokers, on average, have a life span 10 years less of a non-smoker."

If this is the case, then isn't that 10 years worth of medicare expenses less that they have to pay.

OTHER SOLUTIONS for the BUDGET CRISIS:

What happened to the KENTUCKY LOTTERY?
Wasn't this supposed to fund schools only, but yet the budget was just recently cut for schools. What we have is too many officials that are in charge of the Kentucky Lottery making a fortune of a salary for doing absolutely nothing, therefore, taking all of the profit from the lottery.

CASINOS:

Anyone who is opposed to Casinos are fools. Over 500 Million in tax revenue crossed the bridge to Indiana last year. According to the recent tally of the budget deficit, this would pretty much take care of that wouldn't it? Then we would not have to worry about taxes being raised at all. People choose to gamble, and 30 more minutes of driving to Indiana isn't going to stop them. The only reason it hasn't been approved in the state of Kentucky yet is because Churchill Downs has a hand in the say on that, and everyone knows that the state of Kentucky caters to them. Churchill Downs make enough money in 6 months worth of open racing to shut down for 6 months, but when it comes to this issue, they are always crying "POOR ME".

Every other day I see a new road being layed. Why can't they quit giving these grants on the new roads and only keep repairing the ones we already have until the deficit is gone. I mean, our country has lived over 200 years without that new particular road that is being proposed. I think we could live another few years without it.

Don't let state troopers drive their cars home. I have to pay for my gas to to drive to work and back. I have to keep up the maintenance on the vehicle I drive to work out of my own pocket. Why should they be any different. I think they should have to park state cars at the station at the end of the day and hop in their own vehicle and drive that home. Not drive home at the state's expense.

FUN FACT:

For every penny the gas price goes up, it costs the city of Louisville $30,000 extra a year to fund the county wide transportation (Police cars, city maintenance vehicles, etc). How much do you think they would save if they cut out letting police officers drive their patrol cars to and from home. Now, think of what would be saved on a statewide scale.

Jodie Smith
Lebanon, KY
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