Lawmakers override Brownback veto of tax increases, rolling back 2012 cuts

[Hail Satan]

[URL="http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article154684809.html"]Source[/URL]
[QUOTE]Lawmakers rolled back Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature tax policy on Tuesday night over his objections, forcing into law tax increases to close a budget shortfall and provide additional funding for schools.

The override represents a blow to the legacy of one of the most unpopular governors in America, amid speculation that he may not serve out the remaining year and a half but instead take a federal position.

The veto – and the override – took place on the 109th day of the legislative session. The longest session in state history was 114 days in 2015. The successful override paves the way for lawmakers to wrap up their work quickly, potentially this week.

The legislation ends the "march to zero" income tax policy that Brownback heralded for much of his time as governor. Although the bill raises taxes, tax rates will remain lower in most cases than before the 2012 tax cuts.

Lawmakers who supported the bill said the 2012 policy was a mistake that had drained the state of revenue, leading to rounds of budget cuts, and had harmed investments in roads and other priorities.

Opponents of the bill, who sought to keep Brownback’s veto in place, decried the decision to raise taxes without significant spending cuts. They said lower-income earners will face an additional burden because of higher taxes.

The Senate voted 27-13 to override. The House vote was 88-31.

Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, R-Overland Park, said the Legislature should have acted earlier to roll back the 2012 tax cuts.

"We could’ve done it the easy way, but by God, now we’ve got to do it the hard way," Denning said. "We had the opportunities to do it. It was right in front of us."

Denning said he wasn’t voting to override to spite Brownback.

"I don’t want to be disrespectful to the governor. He still believes in this (the 2012 tax plan)," Denning said. "That’s OK; I don’t."

The bill replaces the state’s two-bracket income tax system with three brackets. Income up to $30,000 for married couples would be taxed at 3.1 percent, income between $30,000 and $60,000 would be taxed at 5.25 percent, and income above $60,000 would be taxed at 5.7 percent.

The bill also would repeal an exemption on certain business income that Brownback has championed.

Conservative Republicans said the tax increase would harm families and would not provide a permanent solution to the state's imbalance between revenue and expenses.

"This is a $1.2 billion tax increase that will still leave us with a negative balance," said Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita.[/QUOTE]

[coup]

So from what I'm understanding is that this was a bipartisan effort to stop the hemorrhaging of funds that the incompetent governor started? Holy shit. The opposition to this effort is a bunch of Republicans and a large portion of the support is also Republicans. The party is certainly split over this one. Hopefully this fractures into something larger.

[Octavius]

Glad they could finally get something more sensible done in spite of their governor's efforts. Still struggling with our painfully insane and unreasonable Republican governor here in Illinois (2 years without a budget and now the lowest bond rating of any state ever! Wooh!).