Governor
In her first address to the legislature, Collins asked for an additional $324 million from the Kentucky General Assembly, most of it allocated for education. The additional revenue was to be derived from Collins' proposed tax package, which included increasing the income tax on individuals making more than $15,000 annually, extending the sales tax to cover services such as auto repair and dry cleaning, and increasing the corporate licensing tax. After opposition to her proposal developed among legislators during the 1984 biennial legislative session, Collins revised the tax package, retaining the corporate licensing tax increase, but replacing the sales tax and income tax modifications with a flat five percent personal income tax and phasing out the deductions for depreciation that corporations could claim on their state taxes. With the state still recovering from an economic recession and an election year upcoming, legislators refused to raise taxes, and Collins eventually withdrew her request and submitted a continuation budget instead. Some education proposals advocated by Collins were passed, including mandatory kindergarten, remedial programs for elementary school children, mandatory testing and internship for teachers, and the implementation of academic receivership for underperforming schools. Among the other accomplishments of the 1984 legislative session were passage of a tougher drunk driving law and a measure allowing state banking companies to purchase other banks within the state.
Read more about this topic: Martha Layne Collins
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