Amid the flurry of action just before the General Assembly recessed last week, Yum! Brands was able to revive an obscure bill giving restaurants a tax credit for the donation of prepared food.
While no one opposes the bill's intention of encouraging restaurants to donate more food for the hungry, critics say the bill never got a full hearing and its cost to taxpayers is uncertain.
"We don't really know how much this costs," said Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. "Quietly passing tax breaks without a full public debate about whether they're worth the lost revenue is very problematic. It eats into our revenue base and often giving tax breaks to companies that are very profitable and is not the way we should be allocating public dollars."
But Sen. Chris McDaniel, the Taylor Mill Republican who chairs the Senate budget committee, said the cost will be minimal. "It benefits restaurants all over the commonwealth and encourages them to donate more food," he said.
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