Tax & Spending

“Hope” Leads to Work & Opportunity 0
- Tax & Spending
- June 24, 2019
Taxpayer-funded programs that combat poverty should operate in ways that create a pathway to economic independence. As such, welfare reforms, like the Hope Act and other efforts, truly benefitted low-income Kansans by encouraging work and lowering poverty rates. Increasing handouts, in contrast, trapped more Kansans into government dependency, stifling their potential success and self-reliance. Kansas
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Record State Budgets From Off-Target Economic Predictions 0
- Tax & Spending
- June 13, 2019
When it comes to making predictions, they say that the only good thing about economic forecasters is that they make the TV weathermen look good. Kansas’s economic and tax revenue forecasters, known as the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group or CRE are no different, and they have a history of missing their estimates. As a result,
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$1.2 billion city and county payrolls online 0
- Tax & Spending
- June 9, 2019
City and county payrolls in the state’s more populated areas grew faster than inflation in 2018. The nine counties with comparable data listed in the adjacent table collectively had a 3.5 percent payroll increase and the ten cities with comparable data increased payroll by 3.1 percent on average. Inflation, by comparison, was just 1.9 percent.
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More State Funding Won’t Stop Tuition Hikes 0
- Tax & Spending
- May 28, 2019
Kansas students are suffering financially from the accelerating cost of college. If policymakers truly seek to provide tuition relief, they should realize state aid has little to zero effect on tuition hikes. The idea that education needs more state funding strongly influences Kansas policy. To that degree, the legislature approved an extra $33 million in
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Kansas Taxpayers Left With $1.4 Billion Deficit Despite Governor’s Veto 0
- Tax & Spending
- May 17, 2019
Those saying the current trajectory of state spending won’t lead to a deficit or tax increase aren’t being honest. A new profile prepared by the Kansas Legislative Research Department (KLRD) shows the state budget creates a $1.4 billion deficit over the next four years. This happens regardless of Governor Kelly’s veto of the tax windfall bill. Another
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Kansas Has Nation’s Highest Rural Property Tax: 2019 Green Book 0
- Tax & Spending
- May 10, 2019
Some of Kansas’s low economic performance may be tied to the fact that property taxes are growing too fast. In fact, 65 KS counties saw triple-digit property tax growth despite their populations shrinking. The Lincoln Land Institute found that Iola, KS has the highest rural property tax rate in the nation. By contrast, there is
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