Enjoy your tax cut, Kansans.
Gov. Brownback’s budget that was pushed through the Legislature last Sunday could put some extra cash in your pocket. Especially if you’re among the wealthiest 1 percent — those earning $439,000 or more. Those folks, whose average income is just under $1.2 million, will see a 2.3 percent tax cut of about $25,853.
Those at the other end of the spectrum, people earning $20,000 or less (their average income is about $12,000) are the only ones who will see a net tax increase, of 0.4 percent — about $49 a year.
All of the rest of us can enjoy the good life.
Except for maybe college students, who can expect higher tuition while the state cuts $66 million from higher education over the next two years. And teachers; the budget caps salary expenses.
OK, a few other people will probably suffer, too. Combine the state’s budget cuts and the federal budget cuts, and Kansans will see reductions in services for intellectually and developmentally disabled families, senior citizens’ nutrition programs, Head Start and child care, military spending, programs for victims of domestic violence, K-12 spending, environmental programs, job search and training, public health, law enforcement, aviation safety and security, emergency response, immigration enforcement, food safety, small-business loans and mental-health treatment.
Enjoy that tax cut, if you can.