Because state coffers are currently flush, a flat tax rate is once again being proposed.
Kansas, don’t go there.
A system where all are taxed the same amount on their earnings will yield far less than our current tiered system.
Why?
Because the wealthy will pay far less.
Yes, we know, that’s the idea.
Shush.
But once we go down that path of decimating our tax structure, it will take years to correct just as it did after massive tax cuts were enacted during the 2012-2017 administration of Gov. Sam Brownback.
The idea then was that reducing taxes would increase output and be “a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy,” as Brownback promised.
It didn’t happen.
Instead, Kansas revenues plunged, taking the state’s bond rating with it.
Predictably, prospective businesses, teachers, doctors and other professionals were turned off.
Good schools, healthy communities, and an innovative business climate are what draw people our way, not a race to the bottom.
Kansas has a cushion of cash thanks in part to hundreds of millions in one-time federal COVID-19 relief funds that have yet to be spent.
Legislators should ask not only whether it’s prudent to use that cushion for tax cuts but also whether it moves the state forward.
THE MATH tells the story.
If a person who earns $1 million a year and an individual who earns $30,000 a year are both taxed at a 4-percent rate, the millionaire comes away with $960,000 while his friend is left with $28,800.
The tax rate hits the low wage-earner a lot harder than Daddy Warbucks because he has so little to start with.
This is why a flat tax — disingenuously referred to as a “fair tax” — is a regressive tax policy. It falls harder on low-wage earners, setting them further behind in their ability to maintain a roof over their heads.
Kansas’s current tax plan is minimally tiered. Individual incomes up to $15,000 are taxed at a 3.1 percent rate; up to $30,000 is taxed at 5.25 percent; and incomes above $30,000 are taxed at a 5.7 percent rate.
Many states have more detailed tiers that address incomes as high as $1 million.
THE BEST WAY to give Kansans immediate tax relief is to eliminate the sales tax on food.
