Drug Court Revival: And the Need for Increased State Revenue

The Courier-Journal profiles the good work of the Jefferson County Drug Court in cutting both addiction and recidivism since administration and funding was transferred to the state level. Along with education and everything else, this is at risk with the budget shortfalls inherited by new Gov. Steve Beshear (D-KY) from Ernie Fletcher. Beshear should stop promoting casino gambling as THE cure for the financial ills of the Commonwealth. Casino gambling could produce much-needed state revenue and jobs, but it will take a state constitutional amendment before any building can begin, and we need more immediate sources of cash.

Beshear should push the Legislature to pass increased tobacco taxes (as many have pointed out, KY's is 3rd lowest in the nation and we, consequently, have one of the highest teen smoking rates!). Increased liquor taxes would also help. We might also look at some of the sweetheart tax deals that were given in the '80s and '90s to corporations like Toyota and Humana to locate plants or offices in the Commonwealth. We don't want to scare companies out of state, but some corporations may need to ante-up some more for the sake of the entire Commonwealth--especially for excellent programs like the drug court, for increased mental health services (again, ours is one of the lowest in the nation), and for education at all levels. Growing the state's economy will take higher education levels throughout the state--and that will take money to all public schools, pre-K through university. The improvements we have made in the last decade are at risk of falling backward without increased sources of revenue. We also have an aging infrastructure that needs maintenance and improvement--and this also costs money.

Beshear may be right that gaming is an untapped source of that revenue--although social conservatives are not the only ones worried about the social and economic costs of encouraging a behavior known to be addictive in many--with disastrous personal and social results. (I mean, the state could probably get cash by selling drugs, but no one suggests they do so. Why promote other forms of addiction--which we already do through the lottery. This is different than simply regulating and taxing privately financed forms of addiction such as the tobacco and liquor industries--this is active promotion of a harmful behavior!0

But even if gaming revenue is all that Beshear desires with no social and economic fallout, it will not be sufficient nor come soon enough. Increased "sin taxes" on tobacco and alcohol, and investigating whether or not some KY companies need to have "sweetheart tax deals" (made to attract them to KY) reduced seems only practical. And, much as I hate to suggest it with a falling dollar and looming recession, we might have to investigate whether to increase sales tax to $.o7 and/or property taxes--although I agree with Beshear that Kentuckians are taxed higher than nearby states like Tennessee already.

But we have significant needs that can only be addressed through state programs, however much we also involve non-profit and private sector actors, and those state revenues must come from somewhere. Before the "Reagan revolution" so beloved by Republicans, we could count on some funding through federal revenue sharing--but that is a thing of the past. And, considering the mess the GOP has also made of the federal budget, it won't be coming back any time soon.

No one likes to pay taxes and high taxes can hurt an economy, but we have to break the ideology that taxes are evil in and of themselves. Taxes are a "civic tithe" by which we purchase good government, good education, excellent roads and infrastructure, adequate police, fire, and emergency response protection, and physical and mental health for all citizens, among many other social goods. Private enterprise and the free market are excellent mechanisms for many things, but they will not do it all, nor should they. To promote the common good of this commonwealth will take money--and that means taxes. The very first tax that should be increased is the artificially low tobacco tax.