Casino plans going up in smoke?

They say nothing’s certain except death and taxes, but I’m not so sure about taxes – at least cigarette taxes in Kentucky. Not while elected officials are playing chicken with budget and casino proposals, and the clock’s ticking for the legislature to get its work done by April 15.

After a flurry of proposals, meetings and counterproposals late last week, it appears that Kentucky could either A) boost the cigarette tax by 70 cents a pack, which Gov. Steve Beshear now wants; B) raise it a more modest 25 cents, which House Democrats want; or C) keep it lower than nearly every other state at the current 30 cents, which everybody apparently wanted until last week when they realized a casino amendment probably wouldn’t pass the House – and if it did, Senate President David Williams was prepared to “cremate” it on his side of the Capitol.

This has to be galling for Beshear, who not only centered his campaign last year on bringing expanded gambling to Kentucky, but vowed along the way – and even after he was elected – that he wouldn’t raise cigarette taxes. What he’s got now is the worst of both worlds.

Give him credit, though: Once the House leadership started floating the 25-cent plan, Beshear must have figured that if he was going to break his tax pledge, he might as well go whole hog and advocate a hike that could cover most of the anticipated budget gap. That could change the debate, but it’s hard to see Kentucky coming anywhere close to a 70-cent hike. That would put Kentucky’s tax at $1 a pack, nearly at a par with Ohio, and way above the 69.5-cent average of neighboring states.