Posted November 19th, 2009 6:08 am

David Williams is playing a tag-team game of whiffle ball with his teammate Damon Thayer, who swung Tuesday.

Yesterday was Williams’ turn at bat, and his timing was impeccable. Ryan Alessi reported:

LOUISVILLE — Kentucky’s leaders should focus on tax reform and downsizing government—but should not turn to gambling— to solve the current budget problem, Senate President David Williams said Wednesday.
Williams, the Republican from Burkesville, told local officials at the Kentucky Association of Counties conference at the Galt House Hotel that the governor and legislators should reform the “antiquated tax system that punishes people who produce” and doesn’t consider taxing consumption, rather than than production.”
“The only way we can do this is to sit down and talk in a bipartisan sort of way,” he said.
Later, he said Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear should call together leaders from both parties to tackle the issue rather than trying to pass legislation to allow slot machines.
“That’s what he ought to be focusing on,” Williams said of tax reform. “We’ve got to get innovative.”
The governor has said the recession makes tax reform difficult because changes to the tax code could put an additional burden on the working class.
“Now is not the time to pursue tax reform because it would raise taxes on somebody,” Kerri Richardson, the governor’s spokeswoman, said Wednesday.
…
The gambling issue has been the undercurrent for the ongoing struggle for control of the state Senate, where Republicans hold a 19-17 advantage, with one independent who caucuses with the Republicans and an open seat that will be filled in a Dec. 8 special election.
Beshear said the outcome of that election in the 14th district—which opened up when Beshear appointed Republican Sen. Dan Kelly to a judgeship—will be one factor as he decides how to proceed in pushing for a slots bill in the 2010 General Assembly. Democrats already picked up one senate seat this summer after Beshear hired GOP state Sen. Charlie Borders for a Public Service Commission position.
Williams joked with the crowd, many of whom are Democrats, that some people have suggested that Beshear has been bipartisan.
“I said, ‘Well, how do you figure that?’” he said. “And they’ve said, ‘He’s offered more Republicans great jobs than anybody I’ve seen.’”

Is Williams making the comments in order to be trolling for Beshear to give David Williams a great job? It is possible that Williams sees the handwriting on the wall for the Senate, and may be looking for a ticket out. Meanwhile, recall Williams moving and statesmanlike call for bipartisanship of the type that he has displayed so often as Senate President. Here, the call came as he proposed tax reform that taxes consumption instead of income. As mentioned above, David Williams has impeccable timing—impeccably bad.

On the same day, another Lexington Herald Leader report shot Mr. Williams out of his saddle on his “tax consumption” argument:

Low and middle-income Kentuckians pay a larger share of their incomes on state and local taxes than wealthier people do, making the tax system one of many in the country that is inherently unfair, according to a new study.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C., studied tax codes in every state and concluded that the vast majority depend too much on sales and property taxes, which then puts a greater burden on lower-income population.
“State and local taxes are profoundly unfair around the nation, and Kentucky is no exception,” said Matt Gardner, the author of the study and director of the institute, which bills itself as a non-partisan, non-profit research group.

The study found that, in 2007, people making less than $15,000 a year paid 9.4 percent of their income to sales, property and income taxes, while those making about $36,000 paid 11 percent.
In contrast, the wealthiest 1 percent of Kentuckians, those making more than $346,000 a year, paid 7.1 percent. After federal deductions, the percentage is 6.1.
…
Wealthier people do pay more in income taxes, about 5.2 percent of their income, compared to 1.3 percent for the poorest fifth of the population. But, Gardner says, the income tax is the only one designed to be progressive because it can tax people according to their income. But the income tax does not offset the effects of the other two, he said.
“This upside down approach to state and local taxes is astonishingly inequitable,” Gardner said.
…
Steve Boyce, vice-chair of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, a public-policy group, says the report should spur legislators to pass laws that will replace Kentucky’s antiquated tax system with one that is more fair, more adequate and more sustainable.
“It should not disproportionately impact the poor,” Boyce said.
KFTC and a host of other public policy groups are pushing a tax reform bill from Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, that would give more tax credits to the poor and raise income taxes on the wealthy, while taxing more services, a growing sector of the economy.
“This study is a great opportunity to take a second look at the tax reform package we’re pushing because it’s a step in the right direction,” in terms of fairness and adequacy, Wayne said.
…

Tax reform such as that proposed by David Williams which eliminates income tax benefits only the rich, and consumption taxes unfairly place the greatest part of the tax burden on those least able to afford it. The proposal is for a Kentucky Robin Hood in reverse—robbing from the poor to give to the rich. But God bless the child that’s got his own.

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