FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Two key Kentucky lawmakers insisted Tuesday that they were unaware of a provision in a law passed earlier this year that allows the state to revoke licenses to drive, practice law, or even cut hair when people who fall behind on their state income taxes.
Those consequences were tucked into a complex pension reform bill they passed on the final day of this year’s legislative session.
State Rep. Hubert Collins, the Wittensville Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said during a Joint Transportation Committee hearing Tuesday that the measure slipped through unbeknownst to him and many other lawmakers who would have opposed it.
Kentucky is now among about 30 states that can revoke drivers’ and professional licenses as “a last-resort method” of collecting delinquent taxes.
“In fact, this process is already in place for Kentucky’s student loan program, so it is not new here,” said Pamela Trautner, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet. “This is a deterrent action, and we expect it will be applied rarely because taxpayers will have many, many opportunities to be made aware of their tax delinquency and offered ways to meet their obligation.”
Trautner said people who arrange a repayment plan with the state won’t have to worry about revocation of licenses.
“The state’s goal is for all taxpayers to pay what is due and owing to the commonwealth,” she said.
Republican Sen. Ernie Harris of Crestwood, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said the measure makes little sense because it takes away people’s ability to work, leaving them unable to pay taxes. Harris said the provision never would have passed if it had come through his committee.
Collins and Harris promised additional legislative review.
“It’s like the old debtors prison from a couple of centuries ago,” Harris said. “It just seems like it was not completely thought through.”
Tea party activist David Adams said he believes revoking licenses to collect taxes is unconstitutional.
“We shouldn’t have to file another lawsuit to fix this,” he said. “It should be fixed administratively right now and legislatively as soon as possible.”
