Thursday, February 23, 2012

Something Funny Happened in Kansas



Where the Republican governor Sam Brownback and the Republicans in the Kansas House are competing with each other on the honor to tax poor people more while giving everyone else tax breaks:
House GOP leaders' original plan would have given all taxpayers a break, and was an alternative to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's income tax proposal. But now, under both the amended House GOP plan and the governor's proposal, the only group of taxpayers that would see a collective increase in their income taxes would be those with adjusted gross incomes of $25,000 or less.
The House GOP plan is less aggressive in cutting tax rates and helping businesses than Brownback's plan, and it scales back a tax credit for poor workers, rather than eliminate it, as the governor proposed. Also, the plan keeps other income tax credits and deductions that Brownback said he would eliminate.
House Minority Leader Paul Davis said he hopes O'Neal and GOP leaders will rethink the bill's impact.
It's not a funny-ha-ha story, naturally. But it's funny given the increasing income inequality in this country and the drive towards the United Banana States of America. The rich are doing quite well already, the poor not so much. But the Republicans want to help the rich more!