Kansas governor denies he's approved a tax increase

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday during a statehouse news conference he’d sign two bills that together will raise taxes by $384 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1. The moves, however, don’t represent a tax increase, according to the governor.  

State lawmakers have approved increases this year to sales and cigarette taxes to balance its budget to address the state’s budget deficit.  

Brownback said the increases must be viewed in light of the massive personal income tax cuts he urged legislators to make in 2012 and 2013 to boost the economy. The governor distributed figures estimating those cuts would total nearly $1 billion in the next fiscal year, according to The Associated Press.

However, an analysis Tuesday from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan but left-leaning Washington-based policy group, said the poorest 20 percent of the state’s residents will pay 1.5 percent more in taxes than they did in 2012 – an average of $197 a year. The wealthiest 1 percent of Kansas residents will pay $1.9 percent less per year, or $24,600, according to the report.

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