In today’s Nebraska Examiner, former Kansas legislator Jim Karleskint urged policymakers around the nation to remember the Sunflower State’s experience with tax cuts as they consider their own revenue packages.
After large income tax cuts were passed in Kansas, the state experienced devastating revenue losses that decimated funding for schools and roads, forced policymakers to borrow heavily from the state’s retirement fund to balance the budget, and forced local governments to raise property taxes to offset losses in state support, Karleskint said.
“In the end, my colleagues in the Kansas legislature and I had to roll back many of the tax cuts – but not before substantial damage was done and many of the lawmakers who voted for the tax cuts were voted out,” he wrote.
As many states sit on revenue surpluses thanks in large part to a massive influx of federal relief funds, Karleskint said he understands the urge to get relief to residents still dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he urged policymakers to consider the potential consequences of passing long-term policies like tax cuts based on temporary revenue situations.
“State budgets fund many key services that are very important to many residents as well as to our economies,” he wrote. “When those services are cut, there are real consequences and real pain.”