Editorialists across the nation are scribbling furiously to announce tax cuts are bad, bad, bad. Don’t be Kansas, they warn.
The Des Moines Register editorial board begs Iowa Republicans to take note of what happened in Kansas. Someone should alert Iowans that their state budget is in shambles, despite never cutting taxes. The Hawkeye State faces a projected shortfall of $131 million. That’s on top of $118 million Iowa legislators already cut. Iowa Democrats say tax credits are to blame for budget shortfalls. Somehow, the solution is ALWAYS to take more money from taxpayers. Overspending is never a concern.
The Tulsa World celebrates that Oklahoma didn’t cut taxes like Kansas did. Somehow, Oklahoma faces an $878 million budget shortfall next year, despite never implementing the Gov. Brownback tax reforms.
And over at the People’s Republic of the New York Times, one columnist is hailing that a couple who earns $100,000 in Kansas will pay $755 more in taxes next year. Someone should let that columnist know that every Kansan will pay more next year. The average Kansas family will pay $600 more in taxes, despite making a far cry less than $100,000 per year.
As far as most editorial writers are concerned, small government is bad. “Investing” ever increasing taxpayer funds to buy yachts for retired public employees is fiscal responsibility. High taxes are good, and it’s high time everyone just send their entire paychecks to government in return for an allowance and some services.
Readers are going to have to keep waiting for the endless editorials about the downfall of Connecticut. Connecticut is the richest state in the nation per capita, and for years, the state budgeted as if the wealthy people in the tiny state would just sit around and wait for the government to collect every last dime they earned. The state faces a projected $5 billion shortfall in the next three years. For the record, they’ve never instituted Brownback’s tax reforms.
Even the Democratic Governor is becoming a believer in the Laffer Curve. The Laffer Curve is the theory that as taxes increase, government revenues increase, but only to a certain point. Eventually, people learn ways to avoid the taxation or they vote with their feet. Connecticut has proven the theory. Its wealthiest citizens are taking their money to states that don’t abuse their pocketbooks as much, but editorial writers in New York City are too busy gloating about Kansas to bother examining what’s happening one state away.
In two years when the Kansas budget is busted–and projections are that it will be–it will be interesting to see whether the mainstream media bothers reporting that the budget flopped regardless of a record tax increase. Here’s betting they’ll ignore it just as they’ve done with Connecticut.
