The Republican Chair of the Kansas House Tax Committee says the panel will likely make changes in tax cuts, recently approved by the State Senate. The Committee will start its work on the Bills this week with an eye toward reducing the total cost. The package of bills passed by the Senate would replace the state’s three-tiered income tax with a single-rate flat tax, exempt all retirement income from taxation, and accelerate the repeal of the state sales tax on groceries. The measures would cost the State Treasury about $1 billion a year.
Republican Representative, Adam Smith thinks the package is too expensive. Like Democratic Governor, Laura Kelly, Smith says the proposed cuts could – over time – make it hard to maintain funding for schools, highways and other priorities. Smith says his committee will rework the package. He says the revised version will likely retain language aimed at reducing taxes on social security benefits and could include a less expensive version of the flat tax.
