The first order of business for Kansas lawmakers when they return to the Statehouse next week will be resolving the state budget shortfall.
They might have to come up with nearly $1 billion for the current fiscal year and next year combined.
House Majority Leader Don Hineman says that will likely require both spending cuts and tax increases. The Dighton Republican says an income tax surcharge is one of the possibilities.
“A temporary surcharge for two or three years, just to tide us over until revenues do start to recover,” Hineman says.
Conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and lawmakers who support the income tax cuts he championed in 2012 are likely to oppose the idea.
But Hineman and some other moderate Republicans say a temporary income tax boost would be fairer to low and moderate-income Kansans than another increase in the sales tax.
