TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas legislators have plenty of policy objections to Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to overhaul the state’s individual income tax code, but efforts to sell the package also are clouded by questions about how his administration has spun his proposals.
The Republican governor said his plan would be “revenue neutral,” meaning it wouldn’t reduce the state’s overall tax collections. The administration kept using the phrase last week, even after its own figures showed revenues would drop nearly $90 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Brownback said his proposed budget for the next fiscal year would leave Kansas with healthy cash reserves of $465 million at the end of June 2013, exceeding guidelines set in Kansas law. But the calculation didn’t account for the effects of his tax plan.
