Taxes a major focus at Gov. Bevin’s forum in Newport

NEWPORT— Governor Matt Bevin spent the day in Northern Kentucky, starting his day with a community forum in Newport. For Bevin, this is a chance to learn about the concerns and questions of his constituents.

Bevin told the group, “Any and all questions. Any and all thoughts that you would have me hear. In some measure, these things work best when you all drive the conversation.”

Campbell County hosted the midday forum, and many of the questions were focused on issues for Northern Kentuckians.

The first question was about the bridge connecting northern Kentucky to Cincinnati. A man told Bevin, “For as long as I can remember, the Brent Spence Bridge has been one of the number one problems.”

Jokingly Bevin responded, “What? Somebody wants to talk about the Brent Spence Bridge?” Bevin then spoke for more than six minutes on the subject, telling the man that’s a critical project and they will find the money. He said they will need to work with Ohio to get the project done.

Bevin then took a question from a teacher who uses the bridge every day to get to work. The fifth grade teacher said she’s a proud Kentuckian but she teaches across the river. She explained, “I started my career in Kentucky, but quickly learned that teachers were better cared for in our neighboring state. I’m one of the lucky ones that was able to elevate my employment by switching to a state that protects my pension and my salary. The next generation of teachers in Kentucky will be weaker because word is out on how Kentucky treats its teachers. So, given your public stances on public education, what reasons would you give young, talented educators that our state is generating to stay in Kentucky?”

Bevin responded, saying that taking cost of living into account, only 6 states pay their teacher’s more than Kentucky. Ohio, where the woman teaches, is ranked third on that list by EdBuild.Bevin said he doesn’t think pay or pensions will keep people from teaching in Kentucky. He said, “In every instance, not one of my family members, and I’m guessing not you, ever did this for the money. And to imply that people do this for the money, I think is a misrepresentation of why most people go into public education.”

Regarding the woman’s situation, Bevin said, “The wonderful thing about America is that you have the freedom to go wherever you want. You have the ability to take the education you got in Kentucky and go apply it in Ohio. That’s fantastic. And the people of Kentucky who subsidized, through public education, your ability to do that, should feel proud of the fact you’ve done it.”

Other questions applied to the entire Commonwealth. One man asked about entrepreneurship, “How are we going to get the best founders from Kentucky coming back to Kentucky and the best investors investing in it?”

Bevin responded entrepreneurship is near and dear to his heart. He told the crowd, “The simpler you make it for somebody with an idea to turn that idea into opportunity and to turn that opportunity into growth and job creation, that ultimately becomes a little system of people paying taxes, that’s really the whole point of it.”

Taxes were a major part of the conversation. When Bevin called on her, Sister Joyce Moeller voiced concern about Kentucky’s new flat tax rate disproportionately impacting low income people. Moeller told Bevin, “The five percent flat tax really is a bonanza for the top 15 percent.” Bevin asked what she meant by the word bonanza. Moeller explained, “If you look at all the Kentucky sales and other taxes, those on every level but the upper level have been paying a greater percentage of their family income.”

In a new report, the institute on taxation and economic policy determined that the top one percent of Kentuckians pay 6.7% of their income to state and local taxes, while the middle twenty percent is paying more than 11% of their income to taxes.In his response, Bevin said he supports a consumption tax over a marginal tax rate. Bevin said, “If you’re an employer and you employ people, and you take risk with your capital that there’s no guarantee on, and then you have success with that, and you hire more people and you build more things, why should the state punish you for that? Why should we take an increasingly large portion of what you generate when you’re in fact creating the very wealth and the jobs that fund everything that we care about in this state? Should be the opposite, I should take as little from you as possible.”

Moeller said that response upset her. “To me, he seemed like he was taking what I was saying as an attack or a criticism who have made a lot of money in their life and work hard.” She added, “That’s not what I’m saying. I just want people who make lots and lots of money to contribute more to society.”

Since Kentucky switched to a flat tax with additional sales taxes, people earning less than $175,000 are paying more in taxes, while ITEP says the top one percent are saving almost $5,700.

Bevin continued taking questions for another half hour before wrapping up his forum.