Kansas
Trump Tax Proposals Would Provide Richest One Percent in Kansas with 52.3 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
July 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Earlier this year, the Trump administration released some broadly outlined proposals to overhaul the federal tax code. Households in Kansas would not benefit equally from these proposals. The richest one percent of the state’s taxpayers are projected to make an average income of $1,825,100 in 2018. They would receive 52.3 percent of the tax cuts that go to Kansas’s residents and would enjoy an average cut of $132,080 in 2018 alone.
State Rundown 6/28: States Scramble to Finish Budgets Before July Deadlines
June 28, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, several states attempt to wrap up their budget debates before new fiscal years (and holiday vacations) begin in July. Lawmakers reached at least short-term agreement on budgets in Alaska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, but such resolution remains elusive in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.
How to Recover from A Failed Tax Experiment: Part 1
June 13, 2017 • By Lisa Christensen Gee
Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax experiment in Kansas was a failure. His radical tax cuts for the rich eventually had to be partly paid for through tax hikes on low- and middle-income families and also failed to deliver on promises of economic growth. Meanwhile, the tax cuts decimated the state’s budget, diminished its credit rating, and compromised its ability to meet the state’s constitutional standard of adequacy for public education.
Kansas May Have Saved Us All
June 8, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff
Sitting in the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, hidden in the jumble of Americana like Thomas Jefferson’s desk, Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown and the ruby slippers worn in the Wizard of Oz, is a napkin with a drawing on it. Probably one of the least known exhibits in the museum, this napkin, quietly hiding behind glass lest some child wandering from a school group wipe his nose on it, has on several occasions destroyed the finances of the federal government and several state governments, most recently in Kansas.
Kansas City Star: Kansas Tax ‘Experiment’ Offers Lessons to the Nation, Analysts Say
June 7, 2017
“An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found in 2015 that taxpayers in the bottom 40 percent saw an overall increase in their taxes under Brownback when the 2015 sales tax increase is included.” Read more
State Rundown 6/7: Kansas Success Story and Other State News
June 7, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, we celebrate a victory in Kansas where lawmakers rolled back Brownback's tax cuts for the richest taxpayers. Governors in West Virginia and Alaska promote compromise tax plans. Texas heads into special session and Vermont faces another budget veto, while Louisiana and New Mexico are on the verge of wrapping up. Voters in Massachusetts may soon be able to weigh in on a millionaire's tax, the California Senate passed single-payer health care, and more!
State Rundown 5/31: Budget Woes Spurring Special Legislative Sessions
May 31, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, special legislative sessions featuring tax and budget debates are underway or in the works in Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, and West Virginia, as lawmakers are also running up against regular session deadlines in Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, a legislative study in Wyoming and an independent analysis in New Jersey are both calling for tax increases to overcome budget shortfalls.
State Rundown 5/24: Several States Scramble to Finalize Budgets
May 24, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, Kansas lawmakers continued work on fixing the fiscal mess created by tax cuts in recent years, as legislators in Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia attempted to wrap up difficult budget negotiations before their sessions come to an end, and Delaware lawmakers advanced a corporate tax increase as one piece of a plan to close that state's budget shortfall. Our "what we're reading" section this week is also packed with articles about state and local effects of the Trump budget, new 50-state research on property taxes, and more.
Kansas Center for Economic Growth: A Flat Tax Would Only Worsen Kansas’ Budget Crisis
March 18, 2017
Governor Sam Brownback’s 2012 plan to phase out the state income tax created an unprecedented fiscal crisis for Kansas. Some options presented for addressing this crisis would “flatten” Kansas’ income tax and require all Kansans to pay the same income tax rate, regardless of how much they earn. Read more here
Return of the Moderate: A Kansas Force Awakens
February 28, 2017 • By Lisa Christensen Gee
Before the tea party wave of 2010 that brought Gov. Sam Brownback to power and inspired the disappointing “real life experiment” in tax policy, Kansas was primarily governed by a moderate bipartisan coalition. One thing the last few weeks in the Kansas capital has clearly demonstrated is that this coalition is back and they mean […]
Kansas Action for Children: KAC Testimony to the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee in Support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1604
February 15, 2017
The high food sales tax hurts Kansas families. Food is a basic necessity for Kansas’ families. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the state’s increasing reliance on sales tax hurts Kansas’ poorest residents. The lowest 20% of income earners in Kansas pay an average of 11.1% of their income in state and […]
ITEP Testimony Regarding Kansas Senate Bill 188
February 14, 2017
ITEP analysis of Kansas tax changes enacted between 2012 and 2015 shows the state lost over $1 billion in revenue annually from changes to its personal income tax, including lowering income tax rates and exempting business pass-through income from taxation (see Figure 1). While the state subsequently made up some of these revenue losses through […]
ITEP Testimony Regarding Kansas Senate Bill 2237
February 7, 2017
ITEP analysis of Kansas tax changes enacted between 2012 and 2015 shows the state lost over $1 billion in revenue annually from changes to its personal income tax, including lowering income tax rates and exempting business pass-through income from taxation (see Figure 1). While the state subsequently made up some of these revenue losses through […]
Kansas State of the State: Worlds Apart
January 18, 2017 • By Lisa Christensen Gee
Back in December, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback gave an interview with the Wall Street Journal and suggested President-elect Trump should follow his state’s example and cut taxes as well as spending. The sheer gall of the suggestion belies the fact that Kansas’s tax cuts have resulted in credit downgrades, lack of adequate funding for essential […]
Salina Journal: Nixing tax reform obstacles
January 12, 2017
“The LLC exemption — which eliminated taxes on pass-through business income and relieved the tax burden for more than 330,000 Kansas business owners — was passed and signed almost half a decade ago. The exemption has cost our state hundreds of millions of dollars since then (the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says it […]
Kansas Center for Economic Growth: KCEG Testimony to the House Taxation Committee as Neutral on HB 2023.
January 9, 2017
The LLC Loophole is unfair, expensive, and failed to create jobs. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the LLC loophole costs Kansas nearly $290 million per year. It was originally touted as the plan’s signature feature, but now legislators and business leaders of all political stripes publicly acknowledge that it failed to […]
The Topeka Capital-Journal: Eliminating obstacles to tax reform in Kansas
January 5, 2017
“The LLC exemption — which eliminated taxes on pass-through business income and relieved the tax burden for more than 330,000 Kansas business owners — was passed and signed almost half a decade ago. The exemption has cost our state hundreds of millions of dollars since then (the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says it […]
Kansas Center for Economic Growth: A Guide to Comprehensive Tax Reform in Kansas
December 18, 2016
The morning after the election was tough. Half the country woke up feeling devastated, the other half awoke feeling excited. Regardless of who you voted for, it’s hard to come back together when we feel so deeply divided. In Kansas, however, we have a special opportunity to rise to the occasion. Read more here
Governing: Back-to-School Tax Holidays Losing Popularity Among Lawmakers
August 30, 2016
“[Tax holidays] don’t help lower-income people much either, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).” Read more
Washington Post: Kansas cut taxes, California raised them. What happened?
June 20, 2016
“The poorest 20 percent of households — those making less than $23,000 a year — are paying about $200 more, on average, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. For the middle class, the changes have been a wash, with less-affluent households paying somewhat more and more-affluent households […]
Mountain Times: Report tries to paint a happy face on Kansas fiscal crisis
February 3, 2016
“The biggest benefits of Governor Brownback’s 2012 tax program went to the top 1 percent, while actually increasing taxes for the bottom 20 percent. Kansas now has the ninth most unfair tax system of any state in the country, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The poorest 20 percent of Kansans pay […]
Kansas Center for Economic Growth: Brownback Tax Hike Doesn’t Solve Budget Crisis
October 21, 2015
“Every Kansas income group will pay more as a result of this tax increase, but it still doesn’t solve Kansas’ ongoing budget crisis,” said Duane Goossen, senior fellow at the Kansas Center for Economic Growth and former state budget director. “Kansas is draining over $800 million a year as a result of Gov. Brownback’s 2012 […]
Kansas Center for Economic Growth: Tax Hikes to Protect Businesses Hit Working Kansans Hardest
October 21, 2015
The end-result of this years’ historically long session was quite predictable: taxes were raised on hard-working Kansans to cover the budget shortfall caused by the unaffordable tax cuts of 2012-13. The increases recently adopted will fall primarily on low- and moderate-income Kansans because such a big chunk of the new money will come from sales […]
Cheat Sheet: 10 Worst States in America for Fair Tax Systems
July 13, 2015
Americans generally believe that higher income households should pay a greater percentage of their incomes in taxes than lower income households. Yet the exact opposite occurs. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds the nationwide average effective state and local tax rates by income group are 10.9% for the poorest 20% of individuals […]
The Wichita Eagle: Opinion Line Extra
July 6, 2015
“The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy crunched the numbers and found that the poorest 20 percent of Kansans will now pay 1.4 percent more in taxes than in 2012 and the wealthiest 1 percent will pay 1.9 percent less. That’s the Republican way. But it’s wrong.” Read more Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/opinion-line/article26199475.html#storylink=cpy
