Questions Arise with Brownback’s Income Tax Overhaul

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas legislators have plenty of policy

objections to Governor Sam Brownback’s plan to overhaul the state’s

individual income tax code.

But efforts to sell the package also are clouded by questions

about how his administration has spun his proposals.

The Republican governor said his plan would be "revenue

neutral," meaning it wouldn’t reduce the state’s overall tax

collections. The administration kept using the phrase last week,

even after its own figures showed revenues would drop nearly $90

million during the fiscal year that begins July 1st.

Brownback said his proposed budget for the next fiscal year

would leave Kansas with healthy cash reserves of $465 million at

the end of June 2013, exceeding guidelines set in Kansas law. But

the calculation didn’t account for the effects of his tax plan.