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Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: MillCreek on June 08, 2017, 09:19:38 AM

Title: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: MillCreek on June 08, 2017, 09:19:38 AM
http://www.npr.org/2017/06/07/531886684/the-kansas-tax-cut-experiment-comes-to-an-end-as-lawmakers-vote-to-raise-taxes

Apparently it did not stimulate business and the economy as planned.
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: makattak on June 08, 2017, 09:57:28 AM
I don't follow Kansas, but this bit is infuriating:

Quote
and bolster funding for K-12 schools under a Kansas Supreme Court order.

Ah yes. The "Super-Legislature" telling the legislature how they must allocate funds. Not the least bit unconstitutional at all.
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: makattak on June 08, 2017, 10:02:02 AM
I don't follow Kansas, but this bit is infuriating:

Ah yes. The "Super-Legislature" telling the legislature how they must allocate funds. Not the least bit unconstitutional at all.

And investigating this unconstitutional power-grab even more:

Quote
“The court showed or pointed to evidence that half, almost half of African-American students in our state fail to meet proficiency in reading and math. A third of Hispanic students and a third of children come to school poor and that is intolerable,” said Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita.

So, OF COURSE, the solution to poorly performing institutions is to throw more money at them. OF COURSE.
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: MillCreek on June 08, 2017, 10:48:23 AM
I don't follow Kansas, but this bit is infuriating:

Ah yes. The "Super-Legislature" telling the legislature how they must allocate funds. Not the least bit unconstitutional at all.

We have a similar situation in Washington state right now: the McCleary decision.  Here it is very constitutional insofar as the state constitution provides that the paramount duty of the state is to provide for education.  The Legislature has for some years now consistently failed to come up with an education budget that will satisfy the McCleary decision on how schools are funded.
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: makattak on June 08, 2017, 11:10:16 AM
We have a similar situation in Washington state right now: the McCleary decision.  Here it is very constitutional insofar as the state constitution provides that the paramount duty of the state is to provide for education.  The Legislature has for some years now consistently failed to come up with an education budget that will satisfy the McCleary decision on how schools are funded.

That's not constitutional. That's a court deciding it doesn't like how the legislature allocates the funds. If the legislature thinks its duty is fulfilled, the courts have NO POWER to dictate how funds are spent...

That is, if we actually still adhered to that quaint "separation of powers" nonsense.
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: HankB on June 08, 2017, 11:57:19 AM
What's more disturbing is that the other branches of government appeared to knuckle under . . .
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: Hawkmoon on June 08, 2017, 02:17:04 PM
And investigating this unconstitutional power-grab even more:

So, OF COURSE, the solution to poorly performing institutions is to throw more money at them. OF COURSE.

And even that's assuming that the problem is poorly performing schools, rather than poorly performing students.
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: MechAg94 on June 08, 2017, 02:17:21 PM
What's more disturbing is that the other branches of government appeared to knuckle under . . .
I think they just used it as an excuse to please campaign donors/lobbyists.  
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: cordex on June 08, 2017, 04:48:59 PM
Well, that's all the proof I need!  NPR's unbiased and certainly not at all self-serving coverage of the horrific dangers of tax reduction just clinches it for me.  I now see that if businesses and economy are insufficiently stimulated by lower taxes then there are just no other possible reasons left for me to want to keep more of my own money.  Better more should be taken and frugally spent by government who are much better stewards of my work product than I.  I'd especially like to see more lavished on education given the regularity with which we have seen that throwing money at poorly performing schools is not only effective but efficient!

So glad my eyes have been opened.
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: just Warren on June 08, 2017, 05:35:04 PM
The top three linked articles show that it the "experiment" was working. The author points out that Kansas has a spending problem. Bloated and inefficient agencies are to blame not a supposed lack of taxes.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/rexsinquefield/2015/10/21/486-million-in-growth-later-kansas-historic-tax-cut-should-set-example-for-neighbors/#3ea330f2816b

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rexsinquefield/2016/05/10/with-income-tax-eliminated-85-million-flows-into-kansas/#331ab9f823a0

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rexsinquefield/2016/07/18/kansas-an-unsung-hero-for-economic-growth/#10b267d158f4

This last article is gloating over the failure but a comment that I've quoted shows that the article is a lie.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2017/06/07/the-great-kansas-tax-cut-experiment-crashes-and-burns/#570615a15508

Quote

This commentary is based on false claims and distortions of fact. There were no “steep spending reductions;” spending this year will set yet another record. The economic growth was less than politicians hoped for but part of that is political exuberance practiced on both sides of the aisle; the main reason, however, is that the 2012 plan was never implemented. A mere 8.5% efficiency improvement in 2013 – reducing waste in the cost of delivering services – would have balanced the budget and allowed spending to grow with revenue, but instead, legislators raised spending and taxes in 2013 and they did it again in 2015…and now in 2017.

Yes, Kansas still trails many national averages, but that’s about as uncommon as the wind blowing here. A state cannot leapfrog from distantly trailing to leading the pack with minor tax cuts and big spending increases…but Kansas is doing better relative to the national average since 2012. The author cites nonfarm jobs but that includes government…and the plan was to grow private jobs, not government. Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows Kansas’ private sector growth rate was #39 in the nation in the three years prior to tax relief but moved up to #30 in the three years following.

The author is also wrong about a massive tax avoidance scheme of businesses and individuals switching to pass-through status. (Note he cites no data to support his contention.) IRS data clearly shows that the difference between the estimated and actual number of filers claiming the exemption was a bungled estimate. See the full details here https://kansaspolicy.org/irs-data-refutes-kansas-tax-evasion-theories/

And that referenced analysis claiming that Kansas “falls well below national averages in a wide range of public services” is not based on outcomes, but merely on how much each state spends.


Big gov types can't stand it when they can't spend as much as they like and it doesn't matter what letter comes after their name. And so no threats to that are allowed.

Tax cuts were working in Kansas and they couldn't be left to provide a good example for others. They had to be stopped or maybe one day budgets might shrink or agencies and programs might disappear!
Title: Re: Kansas rolls back tax cut experiment
Post by: MillCreek on June 08, 2017, 09:00:23 PM
http://www.businessinsider.com/kansas-budget-disaster-tax-reform-repeal-gop-similar-to-trumps-2017-6

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article154962419.html

If the President's tax plan goes through, perhaps we can see if Kansas will be replicated or refuted on a national scale.