Kansas Sen. Steve Fitzgerald released a statement that he does not support the income tax increase proposed by Senate Leadership and doubts that very many other senators do.
Sen. Fitzgerald represents the 5th District, which includes parts of western Wyandotte County and Leavenworth County.
“The statement by the Senate president that the proposed increase is a consensus of the Republicans in the Senate is simply false,” Sen. Fitzgerald said in a news release. “Senators were briefed in groups of three and four in the last few days and given information on basic alternatives of spending cuts and raised taxes. That is the last that I have heard about the subject and I reject the implication that by being briefed in the president’s office I, or other Republican senators, are now in support of increasing taxes. I am not and I doubt many are. This looks like a bum’s rush to force something through without proper debate and deliberation.”
Here’s what has been proposed in the Senate:
• Elimination of the LLC exemption and raises individual income taxes for a total of about $430 million for its first year.
• For a married couple filing jointly, rates for individual income taxes for tax year 2018 would go from 2.7 percent to 3 percent for those with taxable income of up to $30,000.
• Joint filers with income over $30,000, would see increases from $780 plus 4.6 percent to $900 plus 4.9 percent.
The House Tax Committee is expected to take action on another plan this week.
“Kansas state government is in budget trouble because it did not cut expenses before cutting taxes and the economy has not done well enough to compensate for that mistake,” Sen. Fitzgerald stated in the news release. “Actual reductions in state spending are needed – as they have been all along. This attempt to raise taxes and avoid necessary cuts is another mistake that assumes that hard decisions can be avoided by dipping further into the Kansas taxpayer’s pocket. Kansans should let their state legislators know that it is time for the state to do the same thing businesses and families must do when times are hard: cut spending. Taking more from the taxpayer is not the right answer.”
