It's already been proven that many non-Kentuckians know nothing about the political history of this state, and that became apparent once again earlier this week when liberal author and political activist Don Winslow tweeted a series of anti-Bluegrass State slurs aimed at the voters of the commonwealth for electing Mitch McConnell to seven terms in the United States Senate.
But another controversy that brewed up in recent days shows that a number of Kentuckians need a refresher course in civics and how the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government works.
Vast outrage spread across the state when a Jan. 6 memo, from a high-ranking property taxation official in the Department of Revenue to locally-elected property valuation administrators, was made public. In Kentucky, property valuation administrator (PVA) is the official term for tax assessor. The memo notified PVAs that due to an increase in the "blue book" value of vehicles, tax assessments would be going up on average of 40 percent statewide.
No one -- other than perhaps government bureaucrats salivating at the opportunity to have more tax dollars to spend -- was pleased with the news. Quite predictably, those ultimately responsible this decision have backed away from it.
The memo came from the director of the Division of State Valuation in the Office of Property Taxation within the Department of Revenue. Revenue used to be a cabinet-level agency in Kentucky, but has since been reformed as a department within the Finance and Administration Cabinet. In Kentucky, division directors are political appointees. They are hired by the governor and serve at the governor's pleasure. Administrators at this level are chosen to carry out the governor's wishes, directives, and policy initiatives. An edict of this magnitude would not come out of Frankfort without the blessing and knowledge of the governor or his highest lieutenants.
So naturally, Gov. Andy Beshear wants no blame for the fallout from this financial blow, which will, if not reversed or altered, add monetary burden to a citizenry already reeling from rampant inflation and high taxes. And his sycophants in the social media world are doing all they can to protect him and deflect the darts rightly being thrown at his administration.
Property tax amounts are derived from two components. The first part is the value of the property. That's assessed by an executive branch administrator and is supposed to be based on fair cash value, defined as what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller in a voluntary transaction. The second part is the tax rate. That is set by taxing agencies, be they elected legislative bodies like legislatures, city councils, school boards, or fiscal courts, or appointed bodies like health and library boards.
Beshear was quick to avoid any responsibility for the increased assessments. "We didn't raise them," he basically said. "Inflation did. Your car is simply worth more now than it was last year." And his fanboys and fangirls on social media quickly chimed in. "Don't blame our beloved Andy and his administration. Blame the legislature. It's their fault."
Well, no. It's not the General Assembly's fault, although many legislators -- even some Democrats -- were quick to say they would clean up the mess during their current session. A couple of bills have already been filed to take care of the matter, and it's possible more will be forthcoming. It's quite likely that there will be no impact to the taxpayers from this decision.
But the idea that the governor's administration bears no blame for this debacle is asinine. If a political appointee saw information that would have a drastic negative effect on the constituency, the logical and astute thing to do would be discuss options with the higher-ups -- the department commissioner, the cabinet secretary, executive assistants in the governor's office, maybe even the governor himself -- before issuing a memo. The Beshear administration had options. One of them was to declare that the inflated vehicle values are a temporary phenomenon caused by Bidenflation, and to decide to base 2022 assessments on last year's values. That would still a windfall for taxing districts, though, because vehicles are a depreciating asset and their value goes down every year they're in service.
Why, then, did Beshear's "govern me harder, daddy" fan club try to say this whole mess was the legislature's fault? Were they trying to defend their king and savior? Or are they totally unaware of the separation of powers, and which governmental branch is responsible for assessing value and which branch has the role of setting tax rates? The answer is both. They've blindly followed Beshear on every possible issue while ignoring constitutional restraints that have resulted in a number of federal court rulings against the governor's executive orders. They'll defend him right or wrong.
The General Assembly will fix this problem. Public pressure and outrage is demanding it. But the legislature shouldn't have to deal with this issue at all. The governor's administration could have stopped this in the beginning. The executive branch had the ability and the power to nip the controversy in the bud. It chose not to. Those who want to shift the blame for this disaster away from the governor's office onto the legislature are guilty of civic ignorance. They need a lesson in how government works, which branch has which role, and how separation of powers is established and how it operates. It's a scary thought that these people are politically active, have loud and influential voices, and they vote. Their mindset is what we're up against as we try to make this state better.
