Kansas lawmakers hoisted a $1.2 billion tax increase on taxpayers last session, but they piled on new spending, too. The two-year budget lawmakers passed in 2017 leaves the budget out of balance by 2020.
Legislators won’t be tasked with adopting a budget during the 2018 legislative session that begins Jan. 8, but they’ll be forced to consider tax increases or budget cuts as they grapple with crafting a new school financing formula. The Kansas Supreme Court gave lawmakers an April deadline to create a constitutional school funding formula. Most court watchers believe doing so will require increasing funding for public schools. Here are a few quick facts about the Kansas budget.
Where does the money go?
Lawmakers approved a $6.592 billion state general fund budget for FY 2018.
- 63.2 percent of the budget, or a little more than $4.1 billion is directed to education, including K-12 and higher education;
- 25.6 percent of the budget, or a little more than $1.6 billion, goes to human services;
- 6 percent of the budget, or about $397 million, goes to public safety, like the Kansas Highway Patrol and state prisons;
- 4.9 percent, or about $324 million, is directed to general government services;
- .2 percent, about $15 million, is directed to agriculture and natural resources.
Where does the money come from?
The tax plan lawmakers adopted is projected to bring in $6.7 billion in revenue to the state general fund. The state generates revenue through a variety of different taxes.
- 38 percent of revenues, or approximately $2.9 billion, are derived from individual income taxes;
- 44 percent of SGF revenues are generated from sales and compensating use taxes;
- 5 percent of SGF revenues, or about $316 million, are generated through corporate and financial income taxes;
- 2 percent, or about $135 million, is generated from tobacco taxes;
- 11 percent of SGF revenues come from other taxes and fees.
