The citizens of the commonwealth will be on the lookout for lower taxes for the future. On February 6th, 2025, The governor signed House Bill 1, AN ACT relating to the individual income tax. Kentucky’s legislative government is working hard to make the income tax go to zero. This bill will decrease the income tax from 4% to 3.5% starting January 1, 2026.
The second week of the legislative session has finished, yet so much has started. On February 4th, 2025, House Bill 1 passed Senate 34 – 3 after being passed in the House during the first week of the session on January 9th, 2025. Finally, on February 6th, 2025, the bill was signed by the governor. With income tax being one of our largest portions of income tax, it will affect the budget that the legislature has to fund bills in the future. When looking at the two sides of the argument, you can see the benefits it will have and the concerns there are around this bill.
A great representation of the side who supports this bill comes from Senator Michael Nemes from Shepherdsville, stating, “We’re letting people keep some of their hard-earned money. And when you talk about putting money in whose pockets. Well, that’s not what we’re doing. We’re stopping taking it from their pockets. They earned it; it’s their money..” When we look at the other side of the argument, those who do not support this bill they have concerns about future well-being. Such as Senator Chambers Armstrong from Louisville said, “Cutting our revenues at a time of uncertainty. We don’t know what tariffs, if any, might be coming; We don’t
know what federal fund, if any, might be going away. We don’t know what impact, if any, that’s going to have on us here in this state.” We can see that while one side believes that this bill’s passing will benefit the people of the Commonwealth, the other side is worried about what impact it will have on the Commonwealth for funding such as government programs.
This week, they also passed several other bills, including SB 23 (AN ACT relating to administrative regulations and declaring an emergency.), SB 17 (AN ACT relating to freestanding birthing centers.), SB 37 cs fa (AN ACT relating to cremation of dead bodies.), SB 43cs (AN ACT relating to operator’s licenses.), and SB 126cs (AN ACT proposing to amend Sections 77 and 240 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to limiting the Governor’s ability to grant pardons and commute sentences.). Although SB 313 (AN ACT relating to dates of recognition.) was part of the orders of the day, they will be voting on the bill in February 2025. We look at week 3 of the legislative session, on Tuesday, February 11, the legislature will hold a session in the old capital, which has not happened for several years.
