TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Even though Kansas will raise sales and cigarette taxes to balance its budget, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday that it’s not a tax increase because his economic policies still will have the state’s residents paying less in taxes than they did three years ago.
Brownback promised during a Statehouse news conference to sign two bills that together raise $384 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1, to avert a deficit. The state’s sales tax will rise to 6.5 percent from 6.15 percent, and the cigarette tax will jump by 50 cents a pack, to $1.29.
The governor said this year’s tax increases must be viewed in light of aggressive personal income tax cuts enacted by the GOP-dominated Legislature at his urging in 2012 and 2013 to stimulate the economy. His aides distributed figures showing that those income tax cuts would be worth nearly $1 billion during the next fiscal year.
The state’s budget problems arose after those income tax cuts, and disagreements among Republican legislators over closing the deficit made this year’s annual session the longest in state history, at 113 days. Brownback said while some critics “would have you believe” the state is raising taxes, “that is not accurate.”
“You’ve got to look at the totality of the picture,” he told reporters. “When you look at that, it is a tax cut, and you’ve dealt with your major problems in state government.”