Kansas’ Revenue Disasters Gets Worse

Kansas is struggling to raise tax revenue after falling $67 short of its estimates during the first fiscal quarter of 2017.

A series of tax cuts in recent years led to the lack of revenue from corporate taxes and ales taxes, according to Reuters.

“The significant contributors to less-than-expected September receipts were individual estimated payments related to capital gains and the stock market; a continued regional trend of low corporate tax receipts and sales tax receipts,” said Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan in a statement.

According to KWCH, income tax receipts were down $14 million; corporate income taxes were down more than $17 million; and sales tax receipts were down $34 million.

Tax collections have been off in 10 of the past 12 months for the state.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas has received a great deal of criticism in recent months for his across-the-board tax cuts he put into efffect after taking office in 2011.

Those cuts included slashing the top personal income tax rate by 29 percent and exempting more than 330,000 farmers and business owners from income taxes, according to CBS News.

The idea was that dramatic tax-slashing would create jobs, but didn’t happen.

Instead, Brownback has had to move state budget money around to pay for other bills, leading to a delayed $93 million owed to the school teacher and community college pensions. In addition, Kansas reduced state highway project money by $750 million.

“Constituents, you know, they know our budget’s unstable,” said Republican state Sen. Jim Denning, who initially supported Brownback’s tax cuts but has since changed criticized the governor, according to the Associated Press. “The Brownback headwind is real.”

Sources: Reuters via Yahoo, KWCH, CBS News, Associated Press/ Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr