Wichita Eagle: Poor Kansans hit harder by taxes than rich
media mentionPublished Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, at 9:23 a.m.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A new study by a non-partisan Washington research group says the poorest Kansans pay a much higher percentage of their incomes in state and local taxes than do the state’s wealthiest residents.
Wednesday’s report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says that for the poorest 20 percent of non-elderly Kansans, state and local taxes equal 10.3 percent of their income. For the wealthiest 1 percent, the figure is 3.9 percent.
The institute’s data considers income tax cuts enacted last year.
The report also says the percentage of income going to taxes for the poorest Kansans is 2.6 percent higher than it is for the wealthiest 1 percent. The report says only 13 states have a larger disparity.