robbing Frankfort to pay Louisville-- and vice versa

The other day, I blogged on Ford and the labor union reps in Louisville putting their hands into the pockets of Kentucky taxpayers.

Then, in today's C-J, there was a cartoon emphasizing the flow of funds from Louisville to the rest of the state through Frankfort.

The Ford story aside, the cartoon is accurate. It's not that Louisville hasn't paid more than its fair share into the state's coffers. From research by my buddy Paul Coomes (reproduced in Business First):

Research by University of Louisville economist Paul Coomes shows that of the $1.4 billion Jefferson County residents pay in annual state taxes, only about $700 million ends up back in the county.

Even so, most of the redistribution-- from Louisville to Frankfort or vice versa-- is a bad idea...