On Tuesday, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said that her “gut feeling” is that the recent tax cuts passed by the Legislature are too expensive, but she hasn’t decided yet if she will veto them.
It is thought that the package will cost the state about $635 million in the first year and about $460 million each year after that. The Democratic governor has said that she wants to keep costs at about $425 million a year.
Kelly told reporters on Tuesday that the idea hadn’t been sent to her yet, but she thought the tax plan would be too expensive and couldn’t be kept up.
But she added, “I think what I said when it passed is that it’s a little out of the question.” “That item is way too expensive. I need to look into it and have a serious talk with my budget people.”
The governor also said that she will not make a final choice until she has new information about how much money the state will make. These figures should come out later this week.
Kelly said, “That would be helpful to see what the projections are.” “We were always doing better than expected and riding high, but things have been going downhill for the last seven or eight months.”
“Based on the estimates, we’re still in good shape, but we need to see if that’s a trend where estimates are going to go down, which would add to the idea that the package is too expensive and can’t be done,” Kelly said.
Early this month, the tax plan passed the Senate 24–9 and the House 119–0. The plan was passed one day after a tax deal that had the support of both the Senate and Kelly failed in the House. In that package, there would have been three income tax brackets. The new idea, on the other hand, only has two.
The bill Kelly was considering would have taxed the highest incomes at 5.55% and the lowest incomes at 5.15%. An yearly income of $23,000 would be the difference between the two rates. For couples who are married, that number would be $46,000.
The plan would raise the amount of the personal exemption allowance so that each dependent would get an extra $2,320. The allowance would also go from $2,250 for all taxpayers to $18,320 for married couples and $9,160 for everyone else.
There is a chance that Kelly will veto the plan. Vic Miller, the minority leader of the House Democrats from Topeka, said that he would not tell other Democrats to vote to override her veto unless they can come up with a better plan that Republicans will back.
“This plan is the best one we’ve seen this year. That’s what I’ve always thought. Miller said, “Help should go to the people who need it the most, not the people who need it the least.”
“I don’t think there’s anything else that would be better,” he said.
The package would also cut the mill levy for schools from 20 mills to 19.5 mills and get rid of the state’s food sales tax six months earlier, by July 1. It would also get rid of income taxes on Social Security payments.
Miller said he was pleased with the plan that Republicans and Democrats came up with together. He also said that, unlike the governor, he wasn’t worried about the package’s economic note.
Miller said, “People who want tax breaks have waited long enough.” “I think we’ll have healthy balances both now and after we put this plan into action.”
There was no such thing as a rainy day fund a few years ago, but now there’s $1.7 billion in it. Not only are we good from year to year, but we also have that money saved in case we overrefund. That’s not a risk that worries me too much.
This session, Kelly also rejected a single-rate income tax that Republicans were pushing hard, and they were not able to override her. The lawmakers will go back to Topeka on April 25 for a veto session.
