From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeigh The Kentucky House has approved a budget balancing plan that raises taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.To raise revenue in a non-budget year, House leaders needed a supermajority, or 60 votes, to pass the tax bill. They got 66. Thirty-four lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Stan Lee of Lexington voted no."Raising taxes in a time of a bad economy is not good public policy. In all of recorded human history – some five thousand years of recorded human history – not one time has a government ever taxed an economy back into prosperity," Lee said.The measure, which doubles the current 30-cent cigarette tax, puts a six-percent retail tax on alcohol and raids the state’s rainy day fund now moves to the Senate. Senate President David Williams, who supports the bill, says the chamber will vote on it Friday.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.
