Trump's Tax Plan Has Echoes Of The Kansas Tax Cut Experiment
Kansas Deals With Aftermath Of Experiment
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is notorious for what is known as the Kansas experiment, a bold effort to assert the power of limited government.
In 2012, the Republican governor pushed reforms through the state Legislature that dramatically cut income taxes across the board. Brownback boasted the plan would deliver a "shot of adrenaline" to the Kansas economy.
But the opposite happened.
Revenues shrank, and the economy grew more slowly than in neighboring states and the country as a whole. Kansas' bond rating plummeted, and the state cut funding to education and infrastructure.
Last year, the Republican-controlled state Legislature voted to roll back the tax cuts, but Kansas is still dealing with the aftermath of this bold experiment. State lawmakers are now seeking to close a $900 million budget gap over the next two years.
Burdett Loomis, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, says the experiment was as much a political play as it was about governing.
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/25/56004...-of-experiment
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