Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson (right), Speaker Dan Hawkins (left)
Americans for Tax Reform commends Kansas lawmakers who successfully overrode Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of SB 269 on Thursday, officially setting Kansas on the path to a lower, flat personal income tax rate of 4%.
“Kansas is now a leader in the nationwide movement to reduce and flatten the state income tax,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “The legislation enacted today requires lawmakers to keep state spending in check as the income tax rate is lowered, keeping state coffers whole while giving back to taxpayers every unnecessary new dollar from revenue growth. I congratulate Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, Speaker Dan Hawkins and every one of the taxpayer allies in the legislature who made this day possible.”
Today, Kansas joins a nationwide movement of states that are lowering, flattening, or eliminating their income tax. Kansas will become the 24th state with a flat income tax (including the 8 states with a flat rate of zero). Seven of those states adopted their flat rate in the last 6 years: Louisiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, and Mississippi. Meanwhile, governors and legislative leadership in fourteen states are committed to eliminating the income tax completely.
As revenue comes in above the rate of inflation, the newly enacted Kansas statute requires those dollars to be returned to taxpayers in the form of permanent income tax rate reductions. Kansans will experience a tax cut every year that growth remains strong until the income tax reaches a flat 4%.
After that personal rate is achieved, the corporate income tax rate will see similar reductions until it, too, hits 4%. Employees and consumers will benefit in the form of higher wages and lower prices as the tax burden passed along by businesses is reduced accordingly.
The success of SB 269 demonstrates that Kansas lawmakers refuse to be left in the dust as other states leap ahead. ATR celebrates the 87 representatives and 30 senators whose “aye” votes made today’s achievement possible and encourages Governor Kelly to consider simply signing the next tax cut that comes across her desk.