Williams Blasts Beshear's Tax Commission for Lacking Experts

Kentucky Senate President David Williams has several criticisms for Governor Steve Beshear's recently-appointed tax commission.Williams proposed creating such a commission during his bid for governor last year. But says Beshear’s commission lacks the guidance and experience to change Kentucky’s tax code. The Senate President says the majority of the commission is made up of Beshear’s friends and political allies.“That there were some people with qualification on there," he says. "But the vast majority of the people that were appointed to that committee had no expertise in taxation. They weren’t economists, aren’t tax experts, they aren’t CPAs, they aren’t lawyers and what we need is someone to draw up a tax plan and propose a tax plan.” Williams's proposed panel would have included economists and it would have been charged with completely rewriting the state’s tax code.Williams, who first criticized the panel on the Mandy Connell show, also says he wonders why Beshear had a sudden change of heart from the campaign trail, when the governor brushed off tax reform questions.“I don’t know what’s happened to the governor’s attitude when just a few months ago he said how it was absolutely not the time to take a look at the any broad tax reform in the state of Kentucky," he says. "And it appears that position has not changed because he doesn’t put any timetable or parameters or give them any guidance. He said everything’s on the table.”The tax commission is expected to meet frequently this year and suggest changes to the state tax code by mid-November.