TOPEKA — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly announced on Wednesday that she had vetoed five bills related to tax reform that passed with near unanimous support in both chambers of the Kansas legislature earlier this month.
In a press release, Kelly called the tax bills passed in the legislature “unsustainable” for the state’s long term fiscal health pointing to previous tax cut experiments by former Gov. Sam Brownback.
“Kansans need meaningful sales, property and income tax relief,” she said. “However, we must ensure that the plan is affordable for the long term.”
Kelly also proposed an alternative plan that cost $433 million, which costs close to $100 million less than the $520 million plan passed by the legislature.
Kelly’s plan will accelerate the elimination of the state’s food sales tax to Jul. 1, keep the three tax brackets in place while lowering all three brackets, will increase the standard deduction, personal exemption and child care taxes, eliminate state taxes on all Social Security income and cut property taxes for Kansans by exempting the first $125,000 of all homes from the statewide property tax levy.
House speaker Dan Hawkins responded to Kelly’s veto on Wednesday by saying the governor was moving the goalposts on the tax plans. He pointed to the state’s $3 billion surplus and the widespread support the bipartisan tax package had in the legislature.
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