KY Considers Tax Increases on Pensioners

Oh, the AARP will love that

In December, after nine months, fifteen meetings and countless hours of discussion and debate, Kentucky's Blue Ribbon Commission on Tax Reform finally settled on a list of 54 recommendations for overhauling the state's tax code. The proposals from the special panel included everything from revenue-raising measures such as higher cigarette taxes and limits on itemized deductions to tax cuts such as lower rates on income and a new earned income tax credit for the working poor.

But the dollar figure for one recommendation dwarfed any of the other 53. The state, the commission said, should raise $485 million a year by reducing exemptions on pension income — by, in effect, taxing the elderly more.