GOP leaders still can’t overcome the Kansas governor’s veto to enact big tax cuts

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators narrowly failed again Monday to enact a broad package of tax cuts over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, making it likely that lawmakers would end their second annual session in a row without major reductions.

The state Senate voted 26-14 to override Kelly’s veto of a package of income, sales and property tax cuts worth about $1.5 billion over the next three years, but that was one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority. Three dissident Republican senators joined all 11 Democratic senators in voting no, dashing GOP leaders’ hopes of flipping at least one of them after the House voted 104-15 on Friday to override Kelly’s veto.

The governor called the tax plan “too expensive,” suggesting it would lead to future budget problems for the state. Kelly also told fellow Democrats that she believes Kansas’ current three personal income tax rates ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share. The plan would have moved to two rates, cutting the highest rate to 5.55% from 5.7%.

Republican leaders argued that the difference in the long-term costs between the plan Kelly vetoed and a plan worth roughly $1.3 billion over three years that she proposed last week were small enough that both would have roughly the same effect on the budget over five or six years. Democrats split over the plan’s fairness, with most House Democrats agreeing with most Republicans in both chambers in seeing it as a good plan for poor and working class taxpayers.

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