NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Bills introduced on behalf of the Kansas Chamber in the Legislature would lower personal and corporate income taxes to 5% and exempt the first $15,000 for all taxpayers to avoid a tax increase on lower income Kansans and businesses. Republican Rep. Paul Waggoner wants to hear more about the idea.
"It has a lot of merit," Waggoner said. "You do have a number of states, there is a growth in sort of a flat tax approach. It does help solve some of the inflation problem, because you don't keep getting pushed up into higher rates because of just simply inflation. You can have flat tax that are basically revenue neutral, where the totality of taxes raised is identical to currently."
The Chamber's proposal, if passed, would likely slightly lower revenues, especially if the growth trigger in the bill remains. That provision states any revenue more than what is estimated to be received by the Kansas Consensus Revenue Estimating Group would be split to further buy down income taxes on both personal and corporate income. Speaking generally, Waggoner would like to see a closer match between the budget and revenues.
"We're being overtaxed, effectively," Waggoner said. "We need to drop it down to where we don't have this just continual surplus building. We're paying down debt. We're putting more money in a rainy day fund, doing a number of things to not just be expanding spending, but to kind of get our fiscal house in order, so when a recession, or any sort of flattening happens, that the State of Kansas can sail through it better and not have to have budget gyrations, because we just didn't prepare in time."
Waggoner noted that the Republican-controlled Legislature will have much more ability to stick to their agenda if they can remain together than Gov. Kelly will have to keep it from happening.
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