Ho Hum, Kansas Missed Its Projected Tax Collection

No, that's it.

Kansas' tax collections fell nearly $13 million short of expectations in July, and the report of the shortfall Monday came on the eve of a primary election in which Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's critics hoped to oust some of his legislative allies.

The state Department of Revenue reported that Kansas collected $425 million in taxes last month. Compared with the state's official forecast of nearly $438 million, the shortfall was 2.9 percent. Kansas has missed its projections 10 of the past 12 months.

More? OK.

In Tuesday's election, more than two dozen Republican legislators face primary challengers, and most are small-government conservative Brownback allies who've continued to stick by his tax-cutting experiment. GOP moderates are hoping to cut into their clout by tapping into anxiety about the budget and future funding for public schools.

Sucks to be them.

Checking In On Kansas

Every now and then it's nice to look in on the economic miracle that strict supply side theories have wrought in Kansas.

Kansas has the country’s second-slowest GDP growth rate (0.4%) for the three years ending 2015, and is one of just nine states to actually have negative GDP movement between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015. Unemployment is low, but job growth has been anemic. Tax collections have fallen short of projections in 22 of the 30 months ending this past May, prompting deep and sudden spending cuts in everything from highway infrastructure to education. A bipartisan coalition of four former Kansas governors is even raising money “to help educate Kansas voters about the destructive policies of Sam Brownback and his supporters in the Kansas legislature.”

I see not much has changed. Bless that link in the pasted piece, tho.

Four former Kansas governors and other state leaders have announced an effort to raise money to oppose policies and laws created in recent years by Gov. Sam Brownback and the Kansas Legislature.

The Save Kansas Coalition, which sent out a news release Friday, includes former Republican governors Mike Hayden and Bill Graves, and former Democratic governors Kathleen Sebelius and John Carlin.

The group also includes former Kansas Senate presidents Dick Bond and Steve Morris, and other political leaders past and present. Another member: Barry Flinchbaugh, a professor emeritus at Kansas State University who has helped write national agriculture policies.

The group issued a public statement on Friday, asking for money “to help educate Kansas voters about the destructive policies of Sam Brownback and his supporters in the Kansas legislature.”

And the criticism of this group:

Graves doesn’t even live in Kansas anymore, said Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell.

“So he ought to be quiet.”

Good Lord, why would he not want to live there?

Asclepias and Labs of Democracy

Why can't we all have nice governments like California does?

Asclepias (milkweed) is the orange plants in front, bordered by a couple of apple trees and the yellow coreopsis in back. No Monarchs as yet. 

Latest on the Hole in the Ground That was Kansas

When I see a story on Kansas it's irresistible. I don't slow down to gawk at car accidents, but Kansas I can't avoid.

 In 2015, job growth in Kansas was a mere 0.1 percent, even as the nation’s economy grew 1.9 percent. Brownback pledged to bring 100,000* new jobs to the state in his second term; as of January, he has brought 700. What’s more,personal income growth slowed dramatically since the tax cuts went into effect. Between 2010 and 2012, Kansas saw income growth of 6.1 percent, good for 12th in the nation; from 2013 to 2015, that rate was 3.6 percent, good for 41st.

Meanwhile, revenue shortfalls have devastated the state’s public sector along with its most vulnerable citizens. Since Brownback’s inauguration, 1,414 Kansans with disabilities have been thrown off  Medicaid. In 2015, six school districts in the state were forced to end their years early for lack of funding. Cuts to health and human services are expected to cause 65 preventable deaths this year in Sedgwick County alone. In February, tax receipts came in $53 million below estimates; Brownback immediately cut $17 million from the state’s university system. This data is not lost on the people of Kansas — as of November, Brownback’s approval rating was 26 percent, the lowest of any governor in the United States.

That's a small taste. Just to be a spoiler, I'll point out that Louisiana is mentioned as well. Jindal destroyed that. Dodged a bullet with him in the prez sweepstakes. 

Brownback Selling Dildoes

Just going to link to this article at National Review which would normally be painful. We never live in normal times, though. Do we.

Trump brings out two of the Right’s worst tendencies: the inability to distinguish between entertainers and political leaders, and the habit of treating politics as an exercise in emotional vindication.

Wouldn't that be something that we on the left have been saying for oh so long now?

And don't miss Seth Myers on doings in Kansas.

 "Republicans want to replicate these policies on a national level, but even when you buy couch cleaner they tell you to try it on a small patch of fabric first," he said. "That's what happened here — Kansas was the small patch of fabric. Not only did the cleaner not work, the couch exploded."

  

We Are All Socialists Now

Thanks Bernie for bring Vermont-style Socialism to the rest of the nation. Single payer, taxing the rich, gay marrying, tuition-free college and campaign finance reform. It's all good.

Brownback For President?

Probably not anymore.

Brownback, a former U.S. senator who briefly sought the presidency in 2007, isn’t ruling out another run for the White House.

Since he left the nation’s capital to become Kansas’ 46th governor in 2011, Brownback has gone largely unnoticed by the national media. His quiet yet ambitious work in Kansas has proceeded without major controversies of the sort that have helped define Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who fought a pitched battle with public-sector unions, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was a magnet for viral controversies even before the recent allegations of misconduct surrounding the closure of George Washington Bridge lanes.

Just bankrupting the state of Kansas wasn't enough. 

A federal grand jury is looking into loans made to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's re-election campaign and has ordered the state's ethics chief to testify next week as part of its investigation, according to a subpoena obtained by The Associated Press.

It's cold here in northern NY and Andrew Cuomo is a dick, but at least I don't live among a bunch of right-wing loons who would knowingly send this guy back to the governor's mansion. It was already apparent before the election that following Laffernomics was leading the state to bankruptcy. The only person in this country whose opinion might be less valuable than Laffer's is William Kristol. 

Kansas Democrats, if you exist, run an out and out populist next time. What have you got to lose?

Kansas: Poster Child for Republican Economic Policy

Beyond courses in micro and macro long ago, I don't have a great knowledge of economics. That may still be more than Arthur Laffer has.

Gov. Sam Brownback and his celebrity tax policy consultant, Arthur Laffer, said Tuesday that the income tax cuts Kansas lawmakers approved earlier this year will drive growth and make Kansas more competitive with surrounding states.

That was in August of 2012. And also:

Laffer said his studies show states with lower tax rates outperform high-tax states — a notion several other tax policy analysts say is misleading. Laffer said lower taxes may not work every day of every week, but he said economic growth is consistently driven by low-tax, low-regulation policies.

Ensconced here in the high tax, high regulation state of New York, it's interesting to see how this experiment in supply side progresses. 

Kansas will face a $279 million budget shortfall by July, far worse than state officials had thought before a new revenue forecast Monday that will force Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators to consider spending cuts.

The state will also be required to close an even bigger additional gap — $436 million — during the following 12 months, according to the new forecast.

What to do moving forward?

Brownback and many Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature are not publicly rethinking aggressive cuts in personal income taxes enacted in 2012 and 2013 to stimulate the economy. The state cut its top rate 26 percent and exempted the owners of 191,000 businesses from income taxes altogether, and further reductions are promised, including a decrease in the top rate next year.

Double down! Not sure it works at casinos (not being a gambler), but maybe it works with state budgets. Nothing to do but stay tuned.

Just wanted to throw in this bit of apostasy:

A board of medical professionals appointed by Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that the state should provide health coverage to low-income Texans under the Affordable Care Act — a move the Republican-led Legislature has opposed. 

Say it ain't so, Rick!

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/article1097282.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/article1097282.html#storylink=cpy