motherjones | An ambitious effort by a Republican governor to drastically cut his state's taxes
is crumbling—and that's a bad omen for Donald Trump and Republicans in
Congress who are hoping to slash tax rates at the national level.
Shortly after he became governor of Kansas in 2011, Sam Brownback
went to work on rewriting the state's tax code. Together with the
Republican-dominated legislature, he eliminated the top income tax
bracket, lowered everyone else's income tax rate, and created a loophole
that allowed some business owners to pay no state income taxes at all.
Brownback sold the cuts as a way to jolt the Kansas economy to life,
promising major job growth thanks to the lower tax rates. To pass these
tax measures, Brownback worked to replace moderate Republicans in the
legislature who opposed his ideas with true-believer conservatives. He
helped knock off nine moderate Republican incumbents, and the effort
paid off when his tax reform passed in 2012.
But instead of the miracle growth that Brownback promised, the tax
cuts have left a widening crater in the state budget. State economic
growth has lagged behind the national pace, and job growth has stagnated.
Lawmakers have been left scrambling each year to pass unpleasant
spending cuts when tax revenue comes in below expected levels, leading
to contentious fights in the legislature and state courts over reduced public school funding.
When the state legislature convened last month, it faced a $320 million
budget shortfall that needed to be closed before the end of the current
fiscal year in June—and a projected additional $500 million shortfall
for the next fiscal year.
After more moderate Republicans joined the GOP-dominated legislature
following last November's election, the party has appeared more willing
to concede defeat and ditch Brownback's tax experiment. Last week, the
state House and Senate passed
a bill that would generate more than $1 billion by eradicating most of
Brownback's reforms. It would raise personal income tax rates (though
still not as high as the pre-Brownback rates) and end the loophole that
has allowed 330,000 business owners—including subsidiaries of
Wichita-based Koch Industries—to avoid paying income taxes.
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