Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said the state is being smart, steady, and careful about its plan to eradicate state income tax in the commonwealth, telling Newsmax on Tuesday it's "good conservative policy" that even Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear can get behind — to a point.
Coleman joined "National Report" to discuss the plan, which began with the Kentucky legislature voting to lower its tax rate from 4% to 3.5% beginning in 2026.
Coleman laughed off Beshear's grandstanding when he signed the bill into law in early February considering he vetoed a 2022 tax overhaul — which the legislature overrode — and didn't sign a second bill that will allow for incremental reductions — to be voted on — in the years to come.
"The governor was against it before he was for it. The governor has vetoed the original legislation that started this process," Coleman said. "Then he allowed it to pass into law without his signature and ultimately, he's jumping on board, thankfully, with our general assembly.
"We have a supermajority Republicans in our legislature and they're enacting good policy like this. This is good conservative policy," Coleman added. "Let's be frank: we abut Tennessee. Tennessee has a booming economy and we look a bit south to where there's phenomenal economic opportunity. We're mirroring that. We're creating opportunity, job creation here north of the border in Kentucky. We're open for business."
Coleman said the vision is for Kentucky to be a place "where you wanna raise your family."
"We want folks to flourish. That's what we're doing, driven by, initially, by lowering —incrementally, wisely, as a way of being a good steward — lowering our tax policy and our income rate," he said.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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