Comparing apples to oranges?
by Steve McIntosh
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posted Jun 7 2012 2:01AM
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We have an oil and gas drilling boom in southern Kansas, but it’s nothing compared to that of Texas. Toss in that giant state’s tourism industry and you can see two big reasons why Kansas may not be able to replicate the Lone Star State’s job creation of the past few years.
Governor Sam Brownback has pointed to the Texas model in arguing for big Kansas income and business tax cuts recently signed into law, as a means to ‘grow’ the state’s economy. But Bernie Koch of the Kansas Economic Progress Council points out that the Kansas economy is not the Texas economy. And while Texas has no state income tax, it hammers its citizens with sales and property taxes that are among the highest in the nation.
Is that where we are headed in the Sunflower State? With our big tax cuts, the state faces a projected budget deficit of 2.5 billion dollars within six years.
That budget must by law be balanced. How will our lawmakers do it if the Texas-like growth doesn’t materialize?
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Our thought for today is from Edgar Allan Poe:
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only at night.”
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