Old Rocks
Diamond Member
The Kansas Budget
The selling point for hefty Kansas tax cuts was irresistibly seductive. Kansas can lower income tax rates, exempt business profits from the income tax entirely, and state revenue will still remain the same, or maybe even grow, and the state economy will prosper.
But this premise proved to be completely false. General fund revenue did not replenish. It fell $700 million (11 percent) in one year, and the recently revised official revenue forecast now predicts that receipts will stay at that low level into the future. Nor did the economy prosper. The Kansas economy is plodding along, but growing at a rate below our surrounding states and the national average.
Also proving false was the idea that Kansas could easily cut expenses. Our conservative lawmakers have labored during this 2015 legislative session to bring spending down, but they cannot do it. They have converted school funds to a block grant which is already causing problems in many school districts. They have authorized bonds for the retirement system so that regular payments into the system can be lowered. They have reduced many programs. Still, revenue has fallen so low that the budget currently in play for the next fiscal year spends $800 million more than the state expects to receive.
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Duane Goossen writes and speaks about Kansas budget and financial matters. He welcomes inquiries and questions. Reach him at: [email protected].
Goossen served as the Kansas Budget Director for 12 years in the administrations of three governors — Republican Bill Graves and Democrats Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson. He was appointed by Sebelius in 2004 to concurrently serve as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Administration, the agency that manages state facilities, accounting, information services and employee programs.
Now that does not look like a successful program to me.
The selling point for hefty Kansas tax cuts was irresistibly seductive. Kansas can lower income tax rates, exempt business profits from the income tax entirely, and state revenue will still remain the same, or maybe even grow, and the state economy will prosper.
But this premise proved to be completely false. General fund revenue did not replenish. It fell $700 million (11 percent) in one year, and the recently revised official revenue forecast now predicts that receipts will stay at that low level into the future. Nor did the economy prosper. The Kansas economy is plodding along, but growing at a rate below our surrounding states and the national average.
Also proving false was the idea that Kansas could easily cut expenses. Our conservative lawmakers have labored during this 2015 legislative session to bring spending down, but they cannot do it. They have converted school funds to a block grant which is already causing problems in many school districts. They have authorized bonds for the retirement system so that regular payments into the system can be lowered. They have reduced many programs. Still, revenue has fallen so low that the budget currently in play for the next fiscal year spends $800 million more than the state expects to receive.
................................................................................................................................................
Duane Goossen writes and speaks about Kansas budget and financial matters. He welcomes inquiries and questions. Reach him at: [email protected].
Goossen served as the Kansas Budget Director for 12 years in the administrations of three governors — Republican Bill Graves and Democrats Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson. He was appointed by Sebelius in 2004 to concurrently serve as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Administration, the agency that manages state facilities, accounting, information services and employee programs.
Now that does not look like a successful program to me.
