Kansas legislators expect Kelly to veto their latest tax cuts and call a special session

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers approved a new, slightly smaller package of tax cuts before adjourning their annual session early Wednesday, expecting Gov. Laura Kelly to veto it and call a special legislative session to push for a plan more to her liking.

The Democratic governor and Republican-controlled Legislature agree on a good deal of policy that would save taxpayers a total of between $1.42 billion and $1.92 billion over the next three years on their income, sales and property taxes. Their remaining differences are over how the state’s personal income tax is structured and whether the state can avoid future budget shortfalls if the tax cuts are worth much more than $430 million a year as of 2029.

The impasse over cutting taxes, particularly income taxes, has continued over the past 18 months. Kansas has been unable to enact major tax cuts even though its coffers are bulging with surplus revenues.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, said just before senators adjourned for the year, quoting scientist Albert Einstein. “I will see you all in a couple of weeks.”

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