TOPEKA, Kan. Republican lawmakers failed again Monday to pass a sweeping package of tax cuts over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, making it likely that lawmakers would end their second consecutive annual session without major reductions.
The state Senate voted 26-14 to override Kelly’s veto of a package of income, sales and property tax cuts worth about $1.5 billion over the next three years, but that fell one vote short of two-thirds majority required. Three dissenting Republican senators joined all 11 Democratic senators in voting no, dashing Republican leaders’ hopes of overturning at least one of them after the House voted 104-15 on Friday to override Kelly’s veto.
The governor called the tax plan “very expensive,” suggesting it would lead to future budget problems for the state. Kelly also told Democratic colleagues that he believes Kansas’ current three personal income tax rates ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share. would have moved to two rates, reducing the highest rate from 5.7% to 5.55%.
Republican leaders argued that the difference in long-term costs between the plan Kelly vetoed and a roughly $1.3 billion, three-year plan she proposed last week was small enough that both would have roughly the same effect on the budget for five or six years. years. Democrats were divided on the fairness of the plan, with a majority of House Democrats agreeing with a majority of Republicans in both chambers in calling it a good plan for poor and working-class taxpayers.
The Legislature is scheduled to wrap up the year at the close of business Tuesday, and Republican leaders do not plan to try again to pass a tax bill before then.
“This tax process is ready,” Senate Tax Committee Chair Caryn Tyson, a Republican from rural eastern Kansas, told her colleagues. “We’re done. This is the last train leaving the station.”
Kelly vetoed Republican tax plans in 2023 and in January that would have moved Kansas to a flat personal income tax rate, something Kelly said would benefit the “super rich.”
Democrats and dissenting Republicans in the Senate have argued that the House and Senate could negotiate a new tax plan along the lines of what Kelly proposed last week and dump it into an existing bill for up or down votes in both chambers – in a single day, if Republican Party leaders were willing.
Dissenting GOP Sen. Dennis Pyle of the state’s northeast said lawmakers were making progress. Top Republicans have backed off their push for a flat-rate personal income tax, and both bills Kelly vetoed this year would have exempted retirees’ Social Security benefits from state income taxes when those taxes now take effect. when they earn $75,000 a year or more.
Kelly herself stated in her January veto message that, to enact tax benefits, “I will call a special session if necessary.”
“Look how far we’ve come,” Pyle told his colleagues. “Our work is not finished.”
The bill Kelly vetoed also would have reduced state property taxes on public schools, saving the owner of a $250,000 home about $142 a year. It would have eliminated a 2% food sales tax already scheduled to expire six months earlier on July 1. The governor supported these provisions, along with exemptions for Social Security benefits.
