Kansas lawmakers are getting back to work on taxes quickly after taking a break. Leaders in the state Senate are planning to take up Gov. Sam Brownback's tax proposal Tuesday.
Brownback has proposed hiking Kansas tobacco and alcohol taxes and increasing business filing fees to help balance the state budget. Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning says they’ll debate the governor’s bill, even though they might not like the plan.
“It doesn’t have much support, but he said it was part of his solution," Denning says. "We promised the caucus last week that we would run it so we need to keep to the plan, let it come across the floor, probably get some good debate and we’ll go from there on it,” Denning says.
Some lawmakers and the governor have disagreed on a key part of the state’s 2012 tax cut, a tax exemption on business income for more than 300,000 business owners. Brownback’s plan preserves the tax exemption, but Senate leaders say his proposal won’t put the state on solid financial footing.