Why is Kansas in such horrible fiscal shape? It’s still the tax cuts, stupid. ▪ In
the 2012 fiscal year, before any of Brownback’s income tax cuts kicked
in, the Sunflower state raked in $2.908 billion in individual income
taxes.▪ In the 2013 fiscal year, the figure rose to $2.931 billion.▪ But after the reductions were in place, that source of funds plummeted to $2.218 billion in the 2014 fiscal year, was $2.278 billion in the 2015 fiscal year and — again — reached just $2.249 billion in the 2016 fiscal year.Yes, that’s even less than last year.Do the math and a shocking truth emerges.Kansas today is collected a staggering $650 million or so less in individual income tax revenues every year than it was before the tax cuts.If
the state had not foregone that revenue, the $34 million shortfall in
June would have been just a small blip on the radar, nothing to be
worried about.But here the Sunflower State is, with its budget in
shambles, just four years after Brownback pushed through tax reductions
that he said would re-energize the economy, create new jobs and —
perhaps most notably — replace some of the revenue lost through his
actions.None of that has happened.Kansas has actually lost 700 jobs over the last year, for the sixth worst rate of growth in America, according to federal and state figures.
So, less revenue every year for almost 5 years, less jobs every year for almost 5 years and a budget shortfall every year for almost 5 years.
At least according to GOP/Libertarian thought. Over the past 25 years, the Dems have at least tried to pay for their programs and philosophies rather than resorting to the 35 years of budget-busting voodoo economics.
Kansas is just all fucked up on virtually every level. It’s not because they’re “Libertarian”. It’s because they are seemingly less intelligent than average. Like, the average IQ of Kansas is less than 100.
Ugh. Spare me the intellectual elitism, Timex. You can be dumber than average and/or uneducated and still be a worthy citizen, a contributor to society, and a decent person. Even if every single Kansan was below average IQ, I’d rather live among them than among 3 million geniuses who piss all over stupid people.
I don’t think you should take a large region like Kansas and make blanket statements like that. There are very intelligent people, average and not so intelligent individuals in every city, state and country. And we have a lot basic information hidden in pages and pages of political garbage that the average citizen isn’t going to understand or wade through.
My statement was somewhat tongue in cheek, but I think I’d rather live with the geniuses.
Stupidity isn’t a virtue. Ignorance is something worthy of shame.
A big reason why there GOP is where it is, is because they’ve stopped valuing intelligence and intellectualism, and that has resulted in an environment where no real discussion can take place because experts and intellectuals are shunned, leaving them with an army of imbeciles.
The problem with that plan, however, is that imbeciles are doomed. That’s why animals don’t rule the earth.
One of Gov. Sam Brownback’s closest allies in the Legislature lost
his bid for re-election Tuesday night amid a wave of conservative
losses.Brownback isn’t on the ballot this year, but his policies are very much at stake in this election.Moderates,
who have seen their influence wane since Brownback took office in 2010,
recaptured some of the power Tuesday by tapping into voters’
frustrations with the state’s budget woes…
…A poll released this month by Fort Hays State University pegged the
governor’s approval rating at 15 percent and many moderates sought to
tie their opponents to the governor.John Dombo, a Republican
voter, said in comments submitted to The Eagle that “Brownback and his
lemmings are taking our state into bankruptcy… but they are not
willing to admit it and make the necessary changes.”
Low unemployment is a negative in their measure. Housing prices increasing a lot is a positive (seriously, gong from 9% year on year to 5% was cited as a major reason for lowering California)
It’s a myopic view that emphasizes things that don’t actually matter to your average person.
Looks like Nebraska ignored the lessons of Kansas.
Flush with pandemic stimulus cash the state had a big surplus this year. With elections looming, the Republican controlled state legislature decided the best thing to do with that surplus was tax cuts. At first glance that’s semi reasonable and philosophically coherent with the message of conservatism. But if one looks into a bit, it’s deeply problematic because:
This budget surplus is temporary and driven by stimulus dollars. It won’t last.
The tax cuts are ENTIRELY to the top tax bracket and corporate income tax. 99% of state residents won’t see a penny of savings from these tax cuts.
The state has significant expenditures looming. Nebraska has the worst prison overcrowding in the nation and may need to sink significant cash reserves into fixing that in the next few years. Nebraska is also still trying to recover from the disastrous attempts to privatize basic social services in the last decade, an experiment that went terribly and is forcing Nebraska to bring these services back in-house in the near future.
So yeah, Nebraska is pulling a Kansas 2.0 here and if it goes the way of Kansas may be a purple state in a decade.
Also known as the conservative principle of, “kick the can down the road, not my problem.” Of course they give tax cuts to their buddies, because they will be rewarded personally by those same buddies/businesses.
From your lips to gods ears my friend. With the privatization of child welfare services crumbling (kids are getting lost), the governor propped it up with an emergency no-bid contract worth millions to rescue the failing service provider organization. The contract ends days after he’s term limited out of office . . .
This just ain’t true. The top tax backet in Nebraska is 71,850 for married and 65K for singles. The median income for Nebraska family of 2 is 73K so in fact about 1/2 the population would benefit, albeit pretty small for those under 100K. The Omaha newspaper says the same thing.
I agree it is very foolish not to lower the other brackets, or ideally have a new bracket at say $150K, and leave that tax rate unchanged. But Democrats really hurt themselves, when they make claims like did in 2017, that Republicans tax cut only the super-rich are helped. A lot of people use Turbo tax and it tells you paid X taxes last year and when it goes down like it did for most Americans in 2018, lots of folks are going to conclude, the Democrats are lying.
