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April 16, 2004

Dear Speaker Richards,

I am in receipt of your letter dated April 15, 2004.  Unfortunately, you still fail to recognize that it is not possible to develop a budget without knowing the state’s revenue situation.  Your position is regrettable because repairing and updating our antiquated tax code is one of the most important issues we face in Kentucky.  There is no responsible family in this Commonwealth who decides their spending first before they evaluate their income.  In the same way, the people expect the government to live within its means.

Our tax code is leaky, unreliable, and under court attack.  For the last four years, Kentucky’s tax system has performed worse than the national economy forcing cuts under the Budget Reduction Act in healthcare, education, and other important government programs.  We cannot budget reliably under this unpredictable tax code.

We continue our willingness to enter into good faith negotiations to accomplish tax modernization and agree on a budget.  At your March 19th press conference, you publicly stated you had a more comprehensive tax reform plan.  I urge you to release in writing your tax modernization proposal.  Since you required the Governor to submit his plan in writing, I would hope that you would not do any less.

Upon receipt of your tax reform plan, we will be in contact with you to arrange negotiations to establish a basis upon which we can accomplish tax modernization.  Once this is done, I would suggest further meetings to address the differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget.

I and the people of Kentucky await your reply.

Sincerely,

David L. Williams

Senate President

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