Kansas lawmakers want the poor to pay for tax cuts for the rich

[ksen]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/21/vwelfap/

Wealthier Kansans are paying much less in taxes after Republican Gov. Sam Brownback overhauled the state's income tax a few years ago. Brownback and other Republican officials hoped that more generous policies would stimulate the economy, bringing more revenue into the state's coffers and making up the difference on the bottom line.

It didn't work. Kansas's economy has kept expanding at more or less same plodding pace as the rest of the country. And now, according to official estimates released Monday, the state will have at least a $143 million budget shortfall in 2016, and likely more. Lawmakers are looking for a way to plug the hole.

One thing they're not considering: asking the wealthy to chip in. Instead, in a legislature that last week barred welfare recipients from using their benefits to go swimming or watch movies, the proposals that look most likely to succeed are sales and excise taxes that would be paid disproportionately by Kansas's poor and working class.

Top incomes are growing quite nicely so let's cut their taxes.

Middle to lower incomes are stagnating or even declining so let's raise their taxes.

Sounds legit.

 

[laughing dog]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/21/vwelfap/

Wealthier Kansans are paying much less in taxes after Republican Gov. Sam Brownback overhauled the state's income tax a few years ago. Brownback and other Republican officials hoped that more generous policies would stimulate the economy, bringing more revenue into the state's coffers and making up the difference on the bottom line.

It didn't work. Kansas's economy has kept expanding at more or less same plodding pace as the rest of the country. And now, according to official estimates released Monday, the state will have at least a $143 million budget shortfall in 2016, and likely more. Lawmakers are looking for a way to plug the hole.

One thing they're not considering: asking the wealthy to chip in. Instead, in a legislature that last week barred welfare recipients from using their benefits to go swimming or watch movies, the proposals that look most likely to succeed are sales and excise taxes that would be paid disproportionately by Kansas's poor and working class.

Top incomes are growing quite nicely so let's cut their taxes.

Middle to lower incomes are stagnating or even declining so let's raise their taxes.

Sounds legit.

You misunderstand. As a side benefit, the middle to lower income classes can always migrate to other states.

 

[Trausti]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/21/vwelfap/

This is an opinion piece.

Here's a more balanced article on the subject:

For example, McKay pointed to a recently revealed governor’s economic council report showing a 3.7 percent increase in Kansas’ gross state product from 2012 to 2013. Expansion in the six-state region was 5 percent.

“Manufacturing employment has dropped in Kansas,” McKay said, “while manufacturing jobs elsewhere in the region are growing.”

Jordan said growth of small business income in Kansas compared favorably to Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. In the first three quarters of 2014, he said, Kansas topped each of those states as well as the national average.

The Kansas Department of Labor released a report Friday indicating private, nonfarm employment in the state grew more quickly in 2014 than previously thought. Based on federal statistics, last year's average monthly rate was 1.9 percent higher than the average in 2013. The state’s rate was 1.8 percent in 2012.

Jordan said elimination of income tax on owners of 330,000 business owners helped inspire development of small businesses in Kansas. There were 8,600 first-time state income tax filers representing $465 million in new Kansas income, the revenue secretary said.

http://cjonline.com/news/2015-03-07/competing-viewpoints-characterize-kansas-economic-debate

 

[fromderinside]

This is an opinion piece.

Here's a more balanced article on the subject:

For example, McKay pointed to a recently revealed governor’s economic council report showing a 3.7 percent increase in Kansas’ gross state product from 2012 to 2013. Expansion in the six-state region was 5 percent.

“Manufacturing employment has dropped in Kansas,” McKay said, “while manufacturing jobs elsewhere in the region are growing.”

Jordan said growth of small business income in Kansas compared favorably to Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. In the first three quarters of 2014, he said, Kansas topped each of those states as well as the national average.

The Kansas Department of Labor released a report Friday indicating private, nonfarm employment in the state grew more quickly in 2014 than previously thought. Based on federal statistics, last year's average monthly rate was 1.9 percent higher than the average in 2013. The state’s rate was 1.8 percent in 2012.

Jordan said elimination of income tax on owners of 330,000 business owners helped inspire development of small businesses in Kansas. There were 8,600 first-time state income tax filers representing $465 million in new Kansas income, the revenue secretary said.

http://cjonline.com/news/2015-03-07/competing-viewpoints-characterize-kansas-economic-debate

Yet the state deficit increased from the previous year. I guess $465 million is a bit less than the tax cuts to get the income, eh.

 

[ksen]

This is an opinion piece.

Here's a more balanced article on the subject:

For example, McKay pointed to a recently revealed governor’s economic council report showing a 3.7 percent increase in Kansas’ gross state product from 2012 to 2013. Expansion in the six-state region was 5 percent.

“Manufacturing employment has dropped in Kansas,” McKay said, “while manufacturing jobs elsewhere in the region are growing.”

Jordan said growth of small business income in Kansas compared favorably to Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. In the first three quarters of 2014, he said, Kansas topped each of those states as well as the national average.

The Kansas Department of Labor released a report Friday indicating private, nonfarm employment in the state grew more quickly in 2014 than previously thought. Based on federal statistics, last year's average monthly rate was 1.9 percent higher than the average in 2013. The state’s rate was 1.8 percent in 2012.

Jordan said elimination of income tax on owners of 330,000 business owners helped inspire development of small businesses in Kansas. There were 8,600 first-time state income tax filers representing $465 million in new Kansas income, the revenue secretary said.

http://cjonline.com/news/2015-03-07/competing-viewpoints-characterize-kansas-economic-debate

Nothing in that "more balanced" article refutes anything in the piece linked in the OP.

 

[laughing dog]

This is an opinion piece.

Here's a more balanced article on the subject:



http://cjonline.com/news/2015-03-07/competing-viewpoints-characterize-kansas-economic-debate

Nothing in that "more balanced" article refutes anything in the piece linked in the OP.

In fact, it clearly indicates that Kansas's GDP grew more slowly than its neighbors' GDP.

 

[Metaphor]

The only thing I know about Kansas is that Dorothy was desperate to leave.

I can see why.

 

[RavenSky]

The only thing I know about Kansas is that Dorothy was desperate to leave.

I can see why.

best post!

 

[Axulus]

In fact, it clearly indicates that Kansas's GDP grew more slowly than its neighbors' GDP.

Does economic analysis predict the economic benefits of tax cuts to be instantaneous?

Also, the GDP growth seems to have lagged due to the loss of manufacturing jobs compared to gains for the same in neighboring states. Is it your opinion that the tax cuts resulted in job cuts, or that this is perhaps an unrelated factor that adds noise to the data?