TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has rejected a bill for raising taxes to close a projected state budget shortfall.
Senate President Susan Wagle said after the chamber’s action Wednesday that legislators will need to trim additional spending from the budget.
The Senate voted 30-1 against giving the bill first-round approval after members spent hours whittling it down.
The measure would have raised sales, tobacco and gasoline taxes. It also would have suspended a tax break enacted in 2012 for business owners and farmers as an economic stimulus.
The bill initially would have raised $496 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1, more than enough to erase the budget shortfall.
But after the debate the measure would have raised about $350 million toward closing the shortfall.
