Kansas Passes New Budget With Tax Increases (Wichita, Topeka: crime rates, unemployment)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Way to go dodger....you used to compare them to states that ARE oil dependent when the boom was going on but now that's not the case.....gotta change the metric.

I mean seriously at least be honest about your bias.

I'm not even claiming things are great, I'm merely calling out people that can't keep a consistent narrative other than "Kansas Bad" even if they have to find other measures to do so.

You have a long history of picking whatever current metric makes KS look bad and latching onto it until you can find another metric.

Do you REALLY deny this?

Pretty simple, Kansas has had negative to flat job growth compared to other states in the region- even accounting for energy related boom/bust cycles. For example, North Dakota now has positive non-farm employment growth. Nebraska has also out-performed Kansas in job growth for a long time in addition to Iowa.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Pretty simple, Kansas has had negative to flat job growth compared to other states in the region- even accounting for energy related boom/bust cycles. For example, North Dakota now has positive non-farm employment growth. Nebraska has also out-performed Kansas in job growth for a long time in addition to Iowa.

You didn't answer the question why you keep changing the measure though.

Answer: Because you like picking whatever currently makes the comparison look the worse.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

https://www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains/kansas.htm

Negative job growth in percentage terms over the last year, only Wyoming ranks worse. The governor is mostly to blame. Even Illinois, with all of its issues at the state level, is growing jobs at a much faster rate than Kansas.

This article makes it sound like Kansas really hasn't been doing bad after those tax cuts: Kansas Tax Cuts Were SuccessfulOCPA - Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

This article makes it sound like Kansas really hasn't been doing bad after those tax cuts: Kansas Tax Cuts Were SuccessfulOCPA - Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs

Kansas is 49th in total non-farm job growth over the past 12 month period at -0.6%.
The three worst performing sectors are: Information (-7.8%), Leisure and Hospitality (-2.4%), and Manufacturing (-1.6%).
I think Kansans need to elect Kris Kobach for governor, he will really propel the state forward!

[empires228]

Major employers threatening to leave Wichita because of the states largely uneducated and under qualified work force is nothing new (like Coleman moving HQ out of the metro TWICE), but the threats could become a reality very soon. Kansas searching for skilled labor amid shortage of workers | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas has no excuses to not be teaming people for these jobs. Wichita alone has a decent sized University, a technical school, and the metro has a community college in El Dorado. There are also a slew of colleges within two hours including Kansas Wesleyan, Kstate Salina, Emporia State, Flint Hills Tech., Barclay College, Southwestern, Heston College, Sterling College, Bethel University, Betheny College, Washburn University, Cowley County Community College, Pratt Community College, and Hutchinson Community College. There’s no excuse for the city to not take advantage of this sizable slew of resources. Up it to three hours and you can add a few schools in Manhattan, Barron’s Canpuses in GB and Fort Riley, the community colleges in Garden City, Dodge City, and Liberal, and some of the SEKS community colleges as well.

Kansas City likes to complain about the same thing when there are several colleges on the Missouri side, and then easy access to colleges in Joplin, Pittsburg, Ottawa, Overland Park, KCK, Lawrence, Emporia, Topeka, St. Joseph, and Columbia. It’s not like KU is a major university in a town 40 minutes from downtown or anything...

[biafra4life]

Hi guys I’m an interested observer down here in Texas. As someone who initially started out as a Democrat (yes in Texas it sucked) I have slowly done a rightward drift over the years. Scared away from the left by the disaster in California and pulled towards the right by the success in Texas (Dallas where I live has been booming for a long time).

But I couldn’t really believe my fellow Texans due to the oil. That does make a huge difference. Our biggest city Houston would not exist if not for oil so I needed better proof that the formula preached by the right, low taxes= rocket fueled growth was legit.

Which brings us to Kansas. Hearing Brownback declare his intention to follow conservative mantras of low taxes (he cut Corp taxes to zero???) got my attention.

It’s fair to say that the experiment is looking more and more likely me a failure every passing day. Even right wingers don’t deny this. So what went wrong? Why didn’t it pan out? I’m not interested in bashing left or right just curious as to why this didn’t work.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by biafra4life

Hi guys I’m an interested observer down here in Texas. As someone who initially started out as a Democrat (yes in Texas it sucked) I have slowly done a rightward drift over the years. Scared away from the left by the disaster in California and pulled towards the right by the success in Texas (Dallas where I live has been booming for a long time).

But I couldn’t really believe my fellow Texans due to the oil. That does make a huge difference. Our biggest city Houston would not exist if not for oil so I needed better proof that the formula preached by the right, low taxes= rocket fueled growth was legit.

Which brings us to Kansas. Hearing Brownback declare his intention to follow conservative mantras of low taxes (he cut Corp taxes to zero???) got my attention.

It’s fair to say that the experiment is looking more and more likely me a failure every passing day. Even right wingers don’t deny this. So what went wrong? Why didn’t it pan out? I’m not interested in bashing left or right just curious as to why this didn’t work.

It’s a common misconception. Brownback did not change the corporate tax rate. LLCs (Limited Liabilty Companies) were exempt from state income tax which ended this year, they had also lowered the state income tax but that was raised slightly back this year. The tax rate for S-Corporations, C-corporations, etc didn’t change. Those are taxed entirely differently.

The experiment failed and is now over.

I am politically independent but prefer moderate Republicans which there are quite a few here in NE Kansas.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Mattks

It’s a common misconception. Brownback did not change the corporate tax rate. LLCs (Limited Liabilty Companies) were exempt from state income tax which ended this year, they had also lowered the state income tax but that was raised slightly back this year. The tax rate for S-Corporations, C-corporations, etc didn’t change. Those are taxed entirely differently.

The experiment failed and is now over.

I am politically independent but prefer moderate Republicans which there are quite a few here in NE Kansas.

^^^This.

The *nicest* thing someone could say about it is that Brownbacks tax plans were ignorant to timing and we don't even know that for sure.

The bottom line is that expecting to draw in outside businesses and have your own businesses grow isn't a reaction measured in months but in terms of MANY years. As such, the plan was doomed from the start.

Also, it's a whole different animal on a federal level because it's harder to use tax rates to lure people over borders like it is for states.

[Mattks]

More good budget news. Kansas is currently on track to have a budget surplus for the next two fiscal years. The tax changes are expected to bring in an extra $600 million in revenue this year leaving us with a surplus of around $250 million. Next year should see a $300+ million surplus.

But, and it’s a big but. They still haven’t decided on how much to increase the education budget. They are currently being sued to increase the education budget by $600 million a year. So it’s most likely that there goes any potential surplus. The schools aren’t likely to get that entire $600 million, but the Kansas Supreme Court has required a budget increase saying the current budget is unconstitutional.

[Mathguy]

Nice to see a state correct course on things when they aren't working out.

My home state of Illinois when headed for the iceberg just ignored it and then after striking it said, "hey maybe we should turn?". Now it's quite literally too late and instead of reaching for bandaids they're reaching for the tourniquet.