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The FY 2017 Budget Won’t Work
By Duane GoossenThe FY 2016 budget did not work, and it’s already clear that FY 2017 will not work either. Mid-fiscal year budget cuts are quite likely ahead.It’s the same problem that has existed...
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School Funding Dreams
By Duane GoossenRecently, Gov. Brownback held a press conference to invite Kansans to email him ideas for a new school finance formula. That sounds nice. Can anything be wrong with asking people for...
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October Update: The FY 2017 Budget Won’t Work
By Duane GoossenIt’s even clearer now. The FY 2017 budget won’t work, which means mid fiscal year budget cuts are ahead. And those budget cuts must be taken from a set of expenditures already squeezed...
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Who Benefited for the Kansas Tax Cuts?
By Duane GoossenThe hard evidence is in.The bulk of benefits from the income tax cuts that broke the Kansas budget went to a small number of wealthy individuals, while Kansans at the low end of the...
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Trump: Brownback Economics for America
By Duane GoossenSam Brownback’s approval ratings as governor of Kansas are dismally low, yet polls show Donald Trump winning Kansas. How can both of those things be true? It does not make sense for...
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Budget Disaster Deepens
By Duane GoossenKansas finances have come to a tragically grim place. The official estimate of revenue for this fiscal year has just been revised sharply downward, and brand new forecasts for FY 2018...
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Bipartisanship Required to Fix Kansas Financially
By Duane GoossenWhen the Kansas Legislature convenes in January, one-third of the seats will be filled by someone new. The election results show that many voters recognized the serious financial...
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The Gap Lawmakers Must Close
By Duane GoossenThe Kansas budget has a huge structural imbalance, a daunting gap between income and expense. For the Kansas general fund to remain solvent, lawmakers must close the gap. The general...
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Happy New Year Legislators, Now Fix the Budget
By Duane GoossenFor Kansas legislators, the new year may not feel all that happy. Veterans and first-termers alike have to be wondering why they ran for the job. In the upcoming legislative session,...
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Governor’s Budget: Don’t Look Here for Structural Balance
By Duane GoossenThe governor claimed he was producing a structurally balanced budget. The lieutenant governor predicted that a structurally balanced budget was coming. And after its unveiling, the...
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January Revenue In Perspective
By Duane GoossenJanuary general fund tax revenue turned out to be a bit “higher than estimated.” Good. That’s certainly a better situation than if monthly revenue were lower than estimated, as has been...
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Repeal the Loophole, and More
By Duane GoossenThe LLC loophole has come to epitomize budget-busting tax policy in Kansas. It appears that a majority in the new Kansas Legislature know the loophole must be repealed, and fully intend...
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Open Letter to Kansas Lawmakers: Evacuate from Fiscal Hell
By Duane GoossenLast week’s Supreme Court ruling requiring increased funding for Kansas schools did not surprise many people, but it still complicated an already challenging legislative session. So,...
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Name Your Budget Cuts
By Duane GoossenKansas budget cutters: the time has come to get real and very specific. Which expenses can be cut to balance the state budget? What’s your plan? Put out the details so that Kansans can...
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Free Kansas
By Duane GoossenKansas is thrashing in Governor Brownback’s grip. Tax reform to restore desperately needed financial stability? Vetoed. Medicaid expansion? Vetoed. A fair and adequate school finance...
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The Gaping Kansas Budget Gap
By Duane GoossenAs the Kansas Legislature begins a “wrap-up” session, how big is the budget gap that must be closed in order to adequately fund schools and repair the state’s dismal financial...
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A Yes Vote on the Trump Tax Plan Betrays Kansas
By Duane GoossenAn open letter to the Kansas congressional delegation: Dear Representatives Marshall, Jenkins, Yoder, and Estes, and Senators Roberts and Moran, A moment of truth for each of you is at...
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Kansas Turnaround
By Duane GoossenKansans, we are done being kicked around. For five years we endured the eyes of the nation upon us, judging Gov. Brownback’s tax experiment. We became famous: the poster state for bad...
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The Tall Tale Being Told In Kansas
By Duane GoossenThe recently overturned Kansas tax experiment was sold to Kansans with a tall tale: “Big income tax cuts bring economic prosperity without any pain.” Eventually most Kansans realized...
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Make the Medicaid Ticker Stop
By Duane GoossenKansas topped $1 billion in forfeited federal funds early in 2016. But the clock kept ticking. Now losses have surpassed $2 billion, and the clock still ticks.Our failure as a state to...
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Revenue Reset
By Duane GoossenGov. Brownback’s tax experiment brought havoc to the Kansas budget, and put the state’s general fund in severe financial distress. But in June, a bipartisan supermajority of lawmakers...
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Kansas Tax Roller Coaster
By Duane GoossenKansans, we have been riding an income tax roller coaster! In 2012 the "Kansas experiment" brought lowered income tax rates and a full tax exemption for business income. Last June those...
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Congressional Republicans Repeat the Kansas Mistake
By Duane GoossenCongressional Republicans have released their "tax reform" plan. Words flow from their summary sheet like seductive whispers: "More Jobs. Fairer Taxes. Bigger Paychecks." What's not to...
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Can't Kick Kansas Around Anymore
By Duane GoossenHello United States. Hello from Kansas. It appears that Congress and the President are about to enact a Kansas-style income tax cut for the nation. Good luck with that. Kansas went down...
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Fixing Kansas, Step Two
By Duane GoossenTo release Kansas from the financially troubled Brownback years, state legislators first had to reverse the governor's disastrous tax experiment. That was step one, last year's job. Now...
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