Current:Home > ScamsGOP lawmakers, Democratic governor in Kansas fighting again over income tax cuts -Mastery Money Tools
GOP lawmakers, Democratic governor in Kansas fighting again over income tax cuts
View
Date:2025-04-16 04:01:42
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republican legislators in Kansas have renewed a fight with the Democratic governor over income tax cuts that have drawn bipartisan criticism as favoring the wealthy, with no sign of a break in an impasse that thwarted tax relief last year.
The House was scheduled to vote Thursday on a GOP plan for cutting income, sales and property taxes by a total of $1.6 billion over three years. The Senate approved it Wednesday, 25-11, but with four members absent, it appeared that Republican supporters were at least a vote short of a two-thirds majority in the 40-member chamber needed to override an expected veto from Gov. Laura Kelly.
Top Republicans want to impose a single personal income tax rate of 5.25%, replacing three rates that top out at 5.7%, starting in 2025. Kelly strongly opposes the idea, and projections from the state Department of Revenue have shown that with a single rate, the largest savings in raw dollars would go to people with incomes exceeding $250,000 a year.
The dispute over the single-rate or “flat” plan blocked a large tax cut in Kansas last year, when a dozen other states cut taxes, according to the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation. Kansas now expects to have nearly $4.5 billion in surplus cash at the end of June, equal to 17% of the state’s current $25 billion budget.
“We need to give the money back,” said state Sen. Mike Thompson, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican.
GOP lawmakers who drafted the plan included provisions that would exempt the first $20,300 of a married couple’s income from state taxes — more if they have children, with the amounts rising with inflation after 2025. Backers noted that all income groups would see cuts and that some poor families would see their tax burdens erased.
Republican leaders married the income tax proposals to a proposal from Kelly to eliminate the state’s 2% sales tax on groceries starting April 1 and proposals she embraced to exempt all of retirees’ Social Security income from taxes and to lower homeowners’ property taxes.
“We gave her a lot of stuff in this legislation,” said Republican Sen. Caryn Tyson, the Senate tax committee’s chair.
Lawmakers were acting in the first 14 days of their annual 90-day legislative session. GOP leaders treated the tax issues involved as familiar and expedited up-or-down votes on a plan in each chamber.
Kelly outlined her own proposals for sales, property and Social Security taxes last week. Her income tax proposal would increase the standard deductions that all individual filers claim. Her entire plan would cut taxes by a total of $1.1 billion over three years.
Kansas is debating tax cuts at a time when the nationwide tax-cutting trend may be slowing as a revenue surge fueled by federal spending and inflation recedes. Backers of Kelly’s plan argue that it’s more affordable for the state in the long term, eventually costing $324 million a year in revenues, compared with $583 million under the Republican plan. GOP lawmakers dispute that, but neither side has made their longer-term projections public.
Kelly still cites an aggressive tax-cutting experiment in 2012 and 2013 under Republican Gov. Sam Brownback that was followed by large, persistent budget shortfalls until most of the cuts were reversed in 2017.
“Kansans have seen reckless tax experiments that hurt our schools, roads, and economy before, and they don’t want to go back,” Kelly spokesperson Brianna Johnson said in an email.
Neva Butkus, a state policy analyst for the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the GOP package would widen the gap between the poorest families, who already pay a higher percentage of their incomes in taxes, and the wealthiest.
Butkus said while provisions of the package would help poor families, “It is definitely not capable of counteracting the giant tax cut that you’d be seeing at the top.”
But some Republicans argued that a simpler income tax system is fairer and said Kansas needs to become more competitive with other states. The Tax Foundation said in a 2022 report that Kansas residents pay more of their incomes in taxes than residents of most surrounding states.
In 2022, Iowa moved to a flat tax, initially set at 4.4% but scheduled to drop eventually to 3.9%. Now, GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds is pushing to cut the rate to $3.65% for this year.
Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said retaining an income tax with multiple rates would keep Kansas “behind the eight ball” economically.
“It’s not the future,” he said.
___
Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
veryGood! (554)
Related
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- We never got good at recycling plastic. Some states are trying a new approach
- Ariana DeBose Will Do Her Thing Once More as Host of the 2023 Tony Awards
- Record-breaking heat, flooding, wildfires and monsoons are slamming the world. Experts say it's only begun.
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season floods Florida
- Rising temperatures prolong pollen season and could worsen allergies
- Last Day To Save Up to 50% On Adidas Shoes, Clothes, and Accessories
- Sarah J. Maas books explained: How to read 'ACOTAR,' 'Throne of Glass' in order.
- More than 50 whales die after stranding on Scottish isle
Ranking
- Messi injury update: Ankle 'better every day' but Inter Miami star yet to play Leagues Cup
- The U.S. may force companies to disclose climate risks, marking a historic change
- Biden meets with Israel's Herzog, extends invite to Netanyahu amid tensions
- The SEC wants companies to disclose how climate change is affecting them
- Kansas City Chiefs CEO's Daughter Ava Hunt Hospitalized After Falling Down a Mountain
- US forest chief calls for a pause on prescribed fire operations
- Heat wave in Europe could be poised to set a new temperature record in Italy
- Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $240 Crossbody Bag for Just $59
Recommendation
Oklahoma parole board recommends governor spare the life of man on death row
Scientists give Earth a 50-50 chance of hitting key warming mark by 2026
Unprecedented ocean temperatures much higher than anything the models predicted, climate experts warn
Revitalized apprentice system breathes new life into preservation of St. Peter's Basilica
Man charged with murder in death of beloved Detroit-area neurosurgeon
Love Is Blind’s Marshall Reveals He Dated This Castmate After the Show
Misinformation is derailing renewable energy projects across the United States
Climate change threatens nearly one third of U.S. hazardous chemical facilities