New revenue figures just out showed that the state missed revenue projections yet again – this time by $53 million. Kansas was down significantly in both income tax and sales tax receipts.
The budget bill passed by the legislature and not yet signed by Governor Brownback, left the state with a $6 million balance so the figures in today put Kansas once again in the hole. And yet we still have not heard a whisper from House or Senate leadership or the Governor about how to stop the bleeding.
Months and months of continual losses have jeopardized all state services from highways to public safety to education and everything in between. Still leadership refuses to acknowledge what most Kansans have already figured out – the disastrous and reckless tax cuts of 2013-13 have bankrupted the state. How they can continue to cut rates and allow more than 330,000 businesses to pay no income taxes at all and expect revenues to increase boggles the mind.
None of the figures accounts for the requirement that the legislature restore equity to the school finance system. This has been estimated to be somewhere between $54 and $100 million.
Brownback has the authority to line-item veto portions of the budget bill to make up some of the deficit. The bill also gives him permission to use up to $100 in KPERS payments to shore up the budget but this money is required to be paid back to KPERS with 8% interest by September. Such a payback would certainly require a big turnaround in collections.
This is the atmosphere in which the legislature returns to Topeka tomorrow after their turnaround break.
