HB5 phases out state and local property taxes on the production of “distilled spirits stored or aging in barrels” beginning in 2026 and eliminating them by 2043.
The House passed HB5 on March 30, 2023, by a vote of 60 to 39. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the ‘Bourbon Barrel Tax’ is a form of wealth transfer legislation based on property confiscation. Property should not be taxed at any level against anyone—especially Kentucky’s $9 billion signature industry that generates new jobs, higher wages, and better opportunities. Property taxes, like income taxes, are immoral and anti-constitutional acts of government-imposed theft. Since property is tied to ownership, only when a person or business is secure in the possession of their property can they have the freedom to exercise self-government. Every attack on private property is, therefore, an attack on individual liberty. The U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment were written to safeguard “private property” and prevent “any State” from depriving “any person” of “property, without due process of law.” Moreover, neither education nor public health is the role of government, and taxing property to fund them is even more egregious.