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Kansas Credit Rating Downgraded By Second Bond-Rating Agency

A second leading bond-rating agency has downgraded its credit rating for Kansas, citing what it calls the state's "structurally unbalanced budget" following massive personal income tax cuts.

Standard & Poor's (S & P) said today that it is dropping its rating for Kansas to AA from AA+. The agency also dropped its rating for bonds backed by state tax dollars.

Moody's Investor Services downgraded its credit rating for Kansas in May.

S & P said in its report that Kansas will probably need to cut spending in the future to offset the income tax cuts. The reductions were enacted at the urging of Gov. Sam Brownback in order to stimulate the economy.

Brownback noted that the state's rating remains high and said rating agencies don't like tax cuts.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.