Sam Brownback signs budget-busting income tax bill
Barb ShellySo, the deed is done.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed into law income tax cuts that are projected to cost the state $242 million a year from now and $2.5 billion or more in five years.
The tax will mean income tax cuts for most individuals, although some low-income workers may wind up paying more. About 191,000 businesses, including sole proprietorships, S-corporations and limited liability corporations will no longer pay taxes on non-wage income. Brownback says the tax cuts will have the effect of jet fuel on the Kansas economy. Critics say he’s setting up the state for a crash landing.
Remember that Brownback tricked the Senate into signing this bill, and the senator who chaired the Tax Committee, a conservative Republican, called it “the worst bill to ever come out of the statehouse.” That seems like a pretty good indication that the critics have the higher ground.
Kansas is coming off years of budget cuts. Schools and universities that have been looking for relief now face further cuts. Kansas’ treatment of disabled citizens is so bad that the state is very likely to be found in violation of federal law and U.S. Supreme Court rulings. A court order to put more funding into schools is another possibility. A one-cent sales tax that former Gov. Mark Parkinson signed into law to blunt the effects of the recession is set to disappear. This hardly looks like a state that’s in a great position to give away the store.
“We’re going to keep pruning at state government anywhere we can,” Brownback said at a news conference. But Kansas government has been cut pretty close to the branch already. One can hope Brownback is right and hundreds of thousands of jobs will come flooding into Kansas. But folks can hardly be blamed for fearing the worst.
Mark Hastert
1 year ago“Brownback says the tax cuts will have the effect of jet fuel on the Kansas economy.”
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/sam-brownback-signs-budget-busting-income-tax-bill/#storylink=cpy
….more likely to have the effect of jet fuel on a fire….
JR Beillenhouser
1 year agoKansas is a test state for conservative ideals. While every other state going the opposite route is failing (see New York, California), Kansas is putting it’s money where it’s mouth is. When is succeeds, it will show the rest of the country how to jump start an economy.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agoIf MO would get on board and pass right-to-work laws, maybe we could grow as much as KS is going to grow…..
Libs such as ms shelly will never admit that big govt is bad for growing an economy. She only sees all these “needs” by the non-producers….
JR Beillenhouser
1 year agoThe sucking sound you now here is the sound of KC Mo businesses moving to Kansas.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agolet us hope so JR, let us hope so…..
Jeff Blackwood
1 year agoDoes anyone - ANYONE - really think that companies are dying to move to Kansas? What about all the other states with no income or corporate taxes?
You can delude yourself into thinking that this will force government to tighten its belt, but what will really happen is that our sales and property taxes are going to go through the roof. That, or every piece of infrastructure, every person with a disability, every school will suffer dramatically. You know, schools… one of the key reasons someone would want to live and build a business in Kansas…
When revenues are down, do you really think the best solution is to cut revenues further and hope to make it up on volume? If you follow this logic, then why not demand a pay cut and get more jobs for yourself?
Charles Purvis
1 year agoHere’s one who thinks that companies and individuals will take whatever action they need to take to minimize their tax bill.
On the flip side of your analogy, try insisting upon a pay raise and see if demand for your labor increases.
Mark Hastert
1 year ago“The sucking sound you now here is the sound of KC Mo businesses moving to Kansas.” Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/sam-brownback-signs-budget-busting-income-tax-bill/#storylink=cpy
Nah! it’s just Kansas sucking. Kidding aside I’m glad to see Brownie sign his political suicide note. In four years when he want’s to run for Prez the state of the Kansas schools, infrastructure and business climate will be in a shambles. He’s going to replace all those income tax dollars with sales and use taxes that will place the burden of consumers, middle, and lower class wage earners. You’ll all be going to Missouri to but everything from gas to groceries. Bye, Bye Brownie
Jeff Blackwood
1 year ago@Charles - you don’t think businesses and individuals are doing everything they can to minimize their taxes? That’s why GE employs 900 tax lawyers to reduce their US tax liability to zero.
Are you the one altruistic soul that pays more for the benefit of his country?
Mark Robertson
1 year agoGovernor Brownback knows that supply side economics always works. It is virtually guaranteed that these tax cuts will create tens of thousands of jobs and bring in a tidal wave of tax revenue, like tax cuts always do. It happens every time, yet those of Barbs ilk warn us that there will be catastrophe after every tax cut . They are always wrong. They never learn, because they don’t want to learn, it goes against their class envy agenda. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Nathan Victor
12 months agoSome say days in Kansas were better with dirt roads, one-roomed school houses, and keeping warm ‘round cow-chip fired stoves.
But really, what can we do?