In other states, Sam Brownback's Kansas revolution is still being treated as a model for pared down government, but those close to ground zero are a bit less enthused.
... many of the same Republicans who helped pass Brownback's plan are in open revolt, refusing to help the governor cut spending so he can avoid rolling back any of his signature tax measures.
If Brownback won't reconsider any of the tax cuts, they say, he will have to figure out for himself how to balance the budget in the face of disappointing revenue.
Brownback sold the state on a flood tide worth of trickle down tax cuts, arguing that massive reductions would spur a surge of growth in the state and actually generate increased revenue. Instead, Kansas got a huge budget shortfall, education cuts, service cuts, and still more debt as top Republican economists proved for the nth time that they're simply wrong. Oh, and instead of rocketing growth Kansas has actually underperformed neighboring states.
Now Brownback is busy throwing a governor-sized tantrum and refusing to reverse the policies, even as the Republicans who helped pass his tax cuts are trying to wash their hands of the whole deal.
Tax collections missed projections in 11 months of the last year. A growing number of Brownback's conservative allies want to scale back the tax cuts to ease the budget crunch.
Brownback took office on a pledge to make Kansas friendlier to business and successfully sought to cut the top personal income tax rate by 29 percent and exempt more than 330,000 farmers and business owners from income taxes. The moves were popular in a Legislature where the GOP holds three-quarters of the seats.
The sad thing is the while news of the Kansas disaster seems to be confined to the state’s borders, Brownbackian budget proposals are blooming in Missouri, and Kentucky, and Illinois, and elsewhere.
Isn’t the point of having fifty state “laboratories” supposed to be so that when you blow one of them up, the rest know what not to do?
