Kansas supply-side tax policy at center of legislative budget debate

Gov. Sam Brownback views the agenda of moderate Republican and Democratic legislators calling for reconsideration of Kansas’ supply-side tax cuts as ill-conceived economically and poorly timed politically.

Brownback said doubters of the power of supply-side economics should realize that President-elect Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., expressed interest in taking the Kansas program for stimulating job creation through income tax reduction to a national stage.

“We’ve pioneered this area,” Brownback said in an interview. “I don’t want us to go in a direction that is counter to what much of the country is flowing towards, because they’re targeting the growth of small business and private-sector jobs.”

The second-term governor, identified in 2016 polling as the country’s least-popular chief executive, remains a steadfast proponent of the 2012 elimination of Kansas income tax on owners of more than 300,000 businesses formed as limited liability companies, S corporations or sole proprietorships. In addition, the governor signed a bill deleting the state’s top income tax bracket as part of a now-stalled strategy to zero-out income taxes in Kansas.

Read more: http://cjonline.com/news/local/2017-01-02/kansas-supply-side-tax-policy-center-legislative-budget-debate