Kansas House soundly rejects plan to avert steep budget cuts

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas faced the prospect of deep cuts to schools, prisons and other programs Thursday after the Republican-controlled House soundly rejected a proposal supported by Gov. Sam Brownback that would hike sales and cigarette taxes to close a budget deficit.

In past years, legislators backed the GOP governor by slashing personal income taxes in an effort to stimulate the economy, but those policies contributed to a deficit that ballooned this year.

With a constitutional mandate against operating in the red, Brownback's preferred solution got little support this time, even from his own party. The House voted 95-20 against a plan that would generate more than $400 million in revenue over the fiscal year beginning July 1, largely by increasing the state's sales tax from 6.15 percent to 6.55 percent and imposing a 50 cents-per-pack hike on cigarettes.

Brownback's budget director has warned lawmakers, if the governor is forced to cut the deficit on his own, it will come with a steep price to programs. The cuts would include the loss of $197 million in state aid to schools that would likely lead to more crowded classrooms and higher fees for parents for textbooks and other items.

"Nationally, Kansas is not the model any state is looking to follow right now," said Joseph Henchman, a vice president at the Washington-based Tax Foundation. "What have you gained if you've cut taxes and the state becomes insolvent?"

Other states have seen a cautionary tale. In February, when South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley outlined proposals for slashing income taxes, she said, "We are not doing what Kansas did."

In Nebraska, the unicameral Legislature flirted with following Kansas in 2013 but rejected the idea in favor of a tax study - which recommended against big tax cuts.

"If Kansas had done theirs slowly, they might have been able to minimize the effects," said Nebraska state Sen. Mike Gloor, a Grand Island Republican and chairman of the Legislature's Revenue Committee.

Brownback argues Kansas will still have "pro-growth" economic policies if it preserves most of the income tax cuts enacted by legislators at his urging in 2012 and 2013, even if it raises sales and cigarette taxes to close the budget gap.

He said he and legislative allies have resisted spending cuts because the state must bolster its public pension system, cover rising Medicaid costs and meet court mandates on public school funding. During his successful re-election campaign last year, Brownback rejected critics' arguments the tax cuts would create long-term budget problems endangering aid to schools or state programs.

"The model works for growth," Brownback said Thursday. "We had to spending while shifting to growth, and that's a difficult set of circumstances."

Republican leaders hoped to resurrect the bill the House rejected late Thursday or early Friday and passing a follow-up bill to address concerns with it. Brownback spoke to a meeting of GOP legislators, urging them to act, with aides laying out potential fiscal problems, including a possible downgrade of the state's bond ratings.