Eliminating income tax will lead to increases in other taxes
Dear Editor:
Voters Beware:
I caution those in Henderson County to continue asking questions to the candidates. State officeholders should be answering as to why we see them speak about lack of funding for projects we need after they handed us a small cut to our income taxes last year. Upon looking at overall taxing of all nearby states, Kentucky has it pretty good when we look at total taxes paid.
In the January issue of the Hendersonian, a series of stories covered things our local community could really use, such as Pre-school for all of our students, funds for road projects to be completed, additional space in our homeless shelters, additional funding for affordable housing, more staff for suicide prevention services which help keep from overwhelming our police department who needs help recruiting, on top of additional local energy production. Now our federal programs are being cut, which the state will need to pick up the shortage. Where does Mr. Mills and Mr. Payne say this extra funding will come? Federal funds are what I read. Our president just announced he wants to double our defense budget.
Robby Mills stated his goal is to remove the income tax similar to a state like Tennessee. How about we look at Tennessee? The state has a sales tax of 7% and some local SALES taxes up to 2.75 in addition to the property taxes. Any fantasy removing income tax will magically eliminate tax by most working people is just fantasy. You want to know who suffers? Lower income and retired elderly people. How many years before the state legislature claims we need to raise our state sales tax to 7% to be like Tennessee or other states? Mr. Mills has already championed increasing the number of services charging sales tax.
State officials have indicated our state tourism will bring in the additional revenue. One of our greatest tourism attractions is our bourbon industry and it has taken a massive hit causing a few bankruptcies and one to shut down production for a year. We have more people out of work, higher healthcare costs, higher costs of goods we buy, and our costs are not keeping up with our pay. Our farming industry has taken huge hits due to tariffs. Where will this extra revenue come which Mr. Mills and Mr. Payne continue to push to cover up their tax scheme to remove income taxes?
Industry experts note what attracts their choice for a site:
A skilled educated work force, cost of labor, reliable infrastructure, tax breaks, quality of life, employee recruitment, environmental considerations, zoning regulations, real estate conditions.
44% of Americans are not happy with their place of work. Kentucky ranks 47th, ranked 44th in education attainment. Ranked 44th in weekly average wage. Infrastructure given a C- grade while ranked 32nd in corporate tax and ranks 17th most regressive tax policy. Numerous poor rankings for quality of life: worst state for cancer, highest rate of death from cancer, 45th in healthcare quality, and higher rate of homelessness than the US average. KY ranked worst state for health outcomes due to energy production, but the quality of air has greatly improved due to shifting electricity production away from coal to natural gas as KY retains low rankings in solar and wind energy. As a place to do business, its ranking is 25th.
Look at the list. We currently have a higher demand for improvement in multiple areas which would better attract businesses to our state so why are our state legislators focused on lowering an already competitive income tax rate?
Doug Briggs
Henderson
Garden Club of Henderson hands out many thanks for support of Candlelight Christmas Tour of 2025
Dear Editor:
The Garden Club of Henderson presented another memorable evening for Henderson residents with the Candlelight Christmas Tour of 2025. The evening of December 12th seemed magical in our downtown with the historic homes tour, Christmas music inside homes and outside on the street, carriage rides, and the marketplace at 101 Gallery at the Depot. None of this would have been possible without the incredible talent and work on the part of club members and in addition, the support of many businesses, individuals, organizations, our city government, and the residents of our very own Henderson. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their help and support for such a successful event.
The home and land owners: Tom and Marlene Williams, Paul and Mary Gail Wilder, Shane and Caroline Satterfield, Michael and Lynda Schreiner, Kurt and Jody Wilson, Ike and Betty Norment, Jason and Starla Sands, Eric and Winnie Bartlett
Hosts in homes: Sara Calhoun, Debbie Dunnaway, Trish Gerber, Connie Hetrick, Lucy Wolf, Judi Mayo
Elm Street Helpers: Mitchell and Vickie Deep (Santa Claus photo op), Mike Staples
Henderson Tourism Commission: Abby Dixon, Ellie Kellen, Heather Salisbury, Dana Harvey
Ohio Valley Art League: Tracy Sturgill
Henderson Chamber of Commerce: Clay Gilliam, Jada Hamby, Madison Melton, Donna Warren
Vocalists and musicians in the tour homes: Jackie Hise, David Lutz, David Byrnes, Vivian Backus,
Curt Hamilton
ABBA Promotions: Ty Rideout
ABBA’s Music: Chris Kroeger
Henderson Police Department: Sgt. Bill Russell
Henderson City Manager’s office: Dylan Ward, Donna Madden
Henderson Power & Light: Kevin Sturgill
City of Henderson Parks & Recreation: Thomas Kenney
WARM (Women’s Addiction Recovery Manor)
Gentlemen’s Club of HCHS
J’Petals
Local restaurants: Cap n Cork, Hometown Roots, Homer’s, Rookie’s, Rockhouse Tacoholics, Sidewalk Café, and HT’s Ice Cream & Grill.
Garden Club of Henderson
