The state’s personal income tax rate can’t go down any further than 3% without making major changes to the way Kentuckians are taxed, according to House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect.

“I think we have to be realistic with the fact that growth will not carry us beyond 3% in the foreseeable future,” Osborne told the Herald-Leader after a policy luncheon Thursday hosted by Commerce Lexington, the area’s chamber of commerce.

“We’ve always known it would only carry us so far, which is why every other state that has gone to zero has dramatically increased sales taxes.”

So as I’ve forecasted for months, the Republicans intend to drastically increase the coverage and the rate of the state sales tax to make up for their reducing the state income tax.

— James Porter, Danville