Just 10 Months After Repealing Brownback Tax Cuts, Kansas Lawmakers Consider More

Kansas lawmakers will soon decide whether to give you a tax cut. Supporters say that would put money back in your pocket. Opponents say that could lead to budget problems as the state pays for a large school funding increase.

Nearly a year after the Legislature raised taxes and largely ended former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cut experiment, the state budget has stabilized. Revenues are up and officials project a surplus of hundreds of millions next year.

Some lawmakers are pushing to raise the standard deduction for income taxpayers, which would exempt more of your earnings from taxes if you take the standard deduction. The Kansas Department of Revenue estimates that more than 1 million tax filers claimed the standard deduction in 2016, out of 1.5 million total.