Economics

Kansas Tax Patches Fail as Tea-Party Experiment Riles Residents

  • Revenue projections forecast more bleeding from state treasury
  • Republican Brownback more unpopular in the state than Obama
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Kansas lawmakers in June approved the largest revenue increase in state history thinking they’d closed a $400 million hole created by income-tax cuts Republican Governor Sam Brownback pushed through three years earlier. They hadn’t.

The state took in $66 million less than expected in the three months ending Sept. 30, and the turmoil is expected to worsen next week when a panel of economists issues its annual projections. They are likely to confirm the need for the Republican-controlled legislature to adjust the budget again because promised benefits from the decrease in taxes still haven’t materialized.