April 17, 2018 On April 7, the Kansas Senate passed Substitute for House Bill 2228. On its surface, this bill addresses issues from the federal tax plan passed in December. However, it also includes extremely fiscally irresponsible provisions that will cost the state at least $494 million over the next five years – revenue that … Read More

Duane Goossen April 16, 2018 The Kansas tax experiment, which played out from 2012 through 2017, deeply damaged Kansas finances. Income tax cuts choked revenue to the general fund and created a multi-year budget crisis. In 2017, lawmakers reversed much of the tax experiment, but many steps remain to be completed before Kansas returns to … Read More

April 7, 2018 Saturday night, the Kansas Senate passed Substitute for HB 2228. The Kansas Center for Economic Growth urges lawmakers to oppose any tax cuts at this time, as they would only increase budget uncertainty while our state works to rebuild from years of failed tax policy. Some estimates indicate that this bill would … Read More

April 3, 2018 The Kansas Center for Economic Growth opposes the latest attempt (HCR 5029) to remove court oversight of public education funding through a constitutional amendment. Extreme policy caused Kansas’ current challenges, and extreme changes to our state constitution aren’t the answer. Kansas courts and schools did not create the state’s fiscal crisis. Failed … Read More

A new policy brief from the Kansas Center for Economic Growth emphasizes the importance of tracking and measuring state tax incentives. Currently, Kansas trails the nation and region by not having a plan to regularly evaluate tax incentives, allowing lawmakers to measure economic impact and make informed policy choices. Although Kansas spends millions of dollars … Read More

March 26, 2018 Assistant Research Analyst Michael Raven sat down to answer a few questions about the Kansas Center for Economic Growth’s latest paper, which takes on the argument that a “rural recession” erased the effects Governor Sam Brownback’s tax “experiment.” “Lay of the land: Understanding commodity prices, tax policy, and the Kansas economy” comes … Read More

Duane Goossen March 23, 2018 The Kansas tax experiment has ended.  We know what happened.  The 2012 income tax cuts immediately threw the Kansas budget out of balance, creating an ongoing, ever-worsening financial crisis.   But at the beginning, that was not the budgetary outcome that Kansans were told to expect. What were Kansans told?  What … Read More

March 22, 2018 Kansans believe in fairness, whether in a ball game or tax policy. Fairness in tax policy means that no business should be disadvantaged and no revenue stream should be omitted or underutilized. The economy functions best when the three-legged stool of income tax, sales tax, and property tax is balanced. However, with … Read More

Duane Goossen March 1, 2018 When Kansas legislators overrode a veto and reversed Brownback-era tax cuts, they took a huge step toward closing an enormous structural imbalance between revenue and expense in the Kansas general fund. Now, though, revisions proposed in the FY 2019 Governor’s Budget Report would widen the gap. A year ago, as … Read More

Emily Fetsch Feb. 12, 2018 Too many Kansans are not able to reach economic security. From difficulty finding a job to not receiving livable wages, people across the state struggle to make ends meet. But not every Kansan’s experience is the same. A new report from the Kansas Health Institute, Chartbook: Racial and Ethnic Health … Read More