In 2007, the current Governor of Kansas was a Senator with presidential aspirations. Mike Huckabee ended those aspirations in Iowa by being more of an anti-choice dick than even Sam Brownback, who was already suffering from comparisons between his name and Brokeback Mountain. He couldn’t get traction as defender of manly man sex as in: “man on top get it over with quick” with a name that is even more comically suggestive of anal sex (Brownback), than Santorum, who was in the same race. (And would have been relieved someone else had a name to be ridiculed)
So he settled for Governor, and since 2011 has presided over Kansas in exactly the opposite way that President Obama has articulated the direction he wishes to take the country.
Kansas leads the country in many things, including regressive state based efforts to restrict abortion rights. No governor is trying harder than Brownback and his loyal band of ultra-right wing Republicans that have 3:1 majorities in the state house, and 4:1 in the state senate. To accomplish this level of loyalty, they ran a very efficient and effective campaign to purge out the moderates in Kansas legislature in last year’s primary.
Now it appears Governor Brownback has set his watery eyed super conservative gaze on Kansas state taxes.
He believes so strongly in his own propaganda that he’s willing to gamble on the lives of the those living in poverty; that super conservative tax policies will not only be politically popular, but might actually not end in near certain economic ruin!
Sam Brownback wants to replace state income tax with higher sales tax, and repealing tax credits for food, rental housing, and child care. Also on the agenda, eliminating itemized deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes paid. This shouldn’t surprise anyone; this particular asshole has been a vocal proponent of “flat taxes” for years.
It’s very popular among Republican Governors today to give the shaft to non-republican voters. They’ve got nothing to lose by forcing the working poor to pay a few hundred dollars more in income tax, while providing the top 1% with a $21,000 (2%) annual reduction in taxes. (Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy) http://itep.org/... This alone will result in a $340 million in lost revenue, while simultaneously punishing the poor by increasing the income taxes on the bottom 20%.
What is so unfortunate in this economic experimenting is how conservative politicians manage to sell this to conservative voters that will not benefit from these policies. Too many low information Republicans believe that a “flat tax” is a “fair tax” because everyone pays the same. They don’t make millions of dollars so they have no concept of how small the percentage of income goes to groceries and clothing and simple every-day expenditures. People that spend 95% of their income every week on housing and food and gas can’t comprehend that they are struggling to get by on what the wealthy consider pocket change. They pull the lever for the guy that promises to lower their tax burden with the implication that less of “their” money will go to social welfare programs, ensuring the demise by starvation of people that don’t look like White Bread Kansas.
So, here’s the big gamble. An enormous reduction in state income tax revenue will supposedly be offset by increased sales tax revenue, increased punitive reduction in income tax “loopholes”, and opening the borders to the “job creators” that will be lured to Kansas for that deliciously low low tax burden.
He must have forgotten that a full 10% of the Kansas population lives within a few miles of the Missouri border. Higher sales taxes will drive many to over the border grocery stores, further increasing the deficit between income taxes and sales taxes. How long before Kansas can’t balance their budget as Kansas law dictates they must? Then what? “AAAAARGH, it’s a CRISIS!!! We must, by law, reduce spending” And when it comes to spending, in Republican Speak, they’re talking about education, welfare, road maintenance, etc. You know, spending that benefits everyone, and mostly Democrats. Spending that benefits the wealthy (job creators) is not on “the table”, so no worries about reducing that “job creatin’” money we call corporate welfare. There will be no increased taxes on stock purchasing, bonds, accounting services, private schools, and all the other things that the more affluent people tend to spend their money on.
All this will be worth watching, as Kansas puts their money where Brownback’s mouth is. If it works, expect this to become the model for Conservative social and economic engineering. If (when) it doesn’t work, and results in the economic calamity I expect it will, Brownback will likely double down and scorch the earth that feeds this nation before admitting he was wrong.
Let’s hope the Kansas voters get the message: Republican Economic Policy is parasitic. Republican Social Policy is the very definition of selfish.