Then/Now: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly Gets State Finances Back on Track After Brownback’s Disastrous Tenure

Edward Flenyje (The Wichita Eagle): “A current snapshot of state finance demonstrates that elections do make a difference”

Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s leadership is mending Kansas’ state finances after the state faced a massive financial crisis under Republican Gov. Brownback. By ending Brownback’s failed tax experiment and securing a bipartisan budget, Gov. Kelly has put Kansas’ finances back on stable footing.
THAT WAS THEN: “Critics have long predicted that Brownback’s income tax cuts would push the state into a financial crisis. Earlier this year, Wall Street warned that the state would need to make deep budget cuts to account for declining revenues brought on by the tax cuts.
“Both Moody’s Investors Services and Standard & Poor’s cut the state’s bond rating, alerting investors that the state was positioned to eat away critical reserve funds partly because of the income tax cuts. Without additional budget cuts, the state would be holding no money in reserve under the budget scenarios laid out Monday.” [Kansas City Star, 11/10/14]
THIS IS NOW: “Kansas voters who threw far-right Republicans out of office in 2016 and elected Laura Kelly as governor in 2018 should be pleased that the state’s finances are on the mend after facing bankruptcy three short years ago.
[…]
“[A]bandonment of the tax experiment in 2017 has restored state balances, estimated at $550 million by July 1, 2020.” [H. Edward Flenyje, Wichita Eagle, 6/8/19]