Back to Kentucky's Economic Trends and Environmental FuturesFrom Exploring the Frontier of the Future: How Kentucky Will Live, Learn and Work
pp. 241-242, published 1996
Although the trends examined in this report will surely affect the way we work, the way we learn, and the way we live, they are not forces entirely beyond our control. We can strengthen or accelerate those trends that enrich our lives and work to change those that do not. Even when we cannot affect a trend directly, we can still respond to it in ways that will maximize benefits and minimize harm. No matter the trend or its effects or our control over it, action is essential. Timely and prescient action will help us create a brighter future for ourselves, our families, our communities. We must act as private individuals, of course, but cooperation and collaboration are also essential. Thus we conclude this trends report with a discussion of government and civic participation.
William Hoyt compares Kentucky’s taxes to those of other states and examines trends in Kentucky taxation. He finds that Kentucky’s sales tax revenue has failed to keep pace with other revenue sources and has led to an increased reliance on the individual income tax for general fund dollars. By broadening the sales tax base and lowering the rate, Kentucky could create a more stable and efficient tax system. In the next chapter, Peter Schirmer, Michael Childress and Charles Nett look at how the slow growth of Kentucky’s revenue may affect future budgets, particularly when combined with the impacts of various demographic, social and economic trends discussed elsewhere in this report. In order to maintain the present level of services, Kentucky’s spending would have to grow more quickly than revenue is expected to grow under the current tax system. As spending for corrections and health and human services continues to take a bigger slice of the budgetary pie, the share of dollars left over for higher education and numerous other functions is shrinking. Finally, Paul Blanchard examines trends in citizen participation—the most fundamental element of democratic government. Voter turnout is low everywhere, but even lower in Kentucky. Yet voting is not the sole means of public action; many non-voters are very active in their communities, through church groups, school committees and other organizations. Kentuckians may be more active in their communities than people elsewhere, and groups like the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development are working to strengthen these important community-level associations.
Government and civic participation, like everything else, will be affected by advancing technology. In fact, government, particularly at the federal level, has been a leader in providing copious information on the Internet, on CD-ROM, by fax and by phone. The next major step is to allow two-way transfers of information, which would enable citizens to do things like register an automobile, receive licenses and permits, and pay taxes and fees. Ultimately, improved communications technology should enable government to be more efficient, to be more responsive, and to accommodate the unique needs of citizens. Links between different groups may be forged and strengthened as a result of better communications, and organizations in one part of the state will be able to learn what organizations in another part of the state, like the Owsley County Action Team discussed in Paul Blanchard’s chapter, are doing to strengthen their communities.
Still, people—not technology—are the building blocks of effective government and healthy public life. And trust is the cement that holds people together. In a recent survey, more than half of Kentuckians said they usually can trust people, compared to less than 40 percent nationally. More than half of Kentuckians also said they have volunteered time for civic, community or charitable activities within the past year. It is this "social capital" which will enable us to seek solutions to our most pressing problems and to respond quickly and intelligently to the important trends affecting our lives. The chapters from William Hoyt and Peter Schirmer, et al., make it clear that government alone cannot pay for all the things we need to do together. But when government works alongside non-profits, school councils, community action groups and other organizations, they provide an essential public arena in which we can take control of the trends affecting our lives, in which we can take action.
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