West Virginia Public News Service, Gilmer Free Press – Some West Virginia legislators want to get rid of the state personal income tax. But in Kansas, where that’s being tried, economists are calling it a disaster. Over the last two and a half years, Kansas lawmakers slashed that state’s income tax, starting at the top. Read
They said the lost revenue would be replaced through rapid economic growth and rising sales tax receipts. But Kansas is now growing more slowly than all it’s neighbors and Annie McKay, executive director with the Kansas Center for Economic Growth, says the two-year general revenue budget has a $1.4 billion dollar hole.
“We actually had to make mid-year budget cuts because we ran out of money in the month of February,” says McKay. “We had a cash flow problem; we weren’t going to be able to pay our bills. We have school districts petitioning the state for emergency funds so that they can make payroll in June.”
