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Kansas: Amid budget woes, weighs changing monthly tax reports

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Free Vulcan:
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Cash-strapped Kansas would drop monthly reporting on the state's finances that has created political problems for Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's allies under a proposal outlined Tuesday by a task force he appointed.

The task force included the proposal among its recommendations for improving the accuracy of the state's twice-a-year forecasts for how much money it expects to take in. No longer would monthly reports compare tax collections with projections. Instead, they would compare that month's revenue with the same month in the previous year.

Kansas has struggled to meet revenue targets and balance its budget since GOP legislators slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback's urging as an economic stimulus. Tax collections were nearly $45 million less than anticipated in September and fell short of expectations for 32 of the 45 months — 71 percent of the time — since the first tax cuts took effect.

For at least several decades, monthly comparisons of tax collections against projections have indicated how the state's budget is faring. But the term-limited governor's fiscal policies are a major issue in legislative races, and the reports have been a regular dose of bad news ahead of the November election...

Read more at: http://gazette.com/kansas-task-force-proposes-ending-monthly-tax-comparisons/article/feed/405930

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