Brownback seems to think regular people act like money-worshipping superstar athletes. The governor is of the mind that Kansas will be a bright prairie flower on the withering Plains if it lowers income taxes. “You’re going to see the middle of the country — our area will be the one that will grow,” he said last week at an annual dinner of the Kansas Policy Institute, a free-market think tank, according to The Wichita Eagle.
The notion that tax burdens have a big influence on migration patterns is far from settled, however. One study, for instance, looked at New Jersey after the state introduced a “millionaire tax” in 2004. The study, written by Cristobal Young of Stanford University and Charles Varner of Princeton University, found that tax had “minimal effect.”
The New Jersey study squared with other studies that indicate tax increases don’t cause people to put “for sale” signs in their yards. In an e-mail, Young says he hasn’t looked at tax decreases, which is what Brownback is contemplating. “But I can’t think of a compelling reason why people would be sensitive to a tax decrease when they are not sensitive to a tax increase,” he writes.
Still, don’t go waving your fancy university studies around the Brownback administration.
“Be careful when these theoretical guys, who haven’t been in the real world, start splitting hairs based on statistical databases,” cautions Steve Anderson, the governor’s budget director.
Anderson is a certified public accountant from Edmond, Oklahoma. Before he joined the administration, he worked as a consultant for Americans for Prosperity, a group bankrolled by the super-rich and ultraconservative Koch brothers. In 2009, he worked on a “model budget” for Kansas that, among other things, recommended higher tuition at public universities. “There is no reason to tax the majority in the state who do not have children attending a state institution in order to subsidize those who do, especially when there is evidence it is the more affluent citizens who are more likely to have children enrolled in higher education,” the document said.
To Anderson, the evidence is clear. Florida, Texas and other states that don’t tax income are growing. Therefore, tax cuts lead to growth. “What I have seen is that income taxes change behavior,” he tells The Pitch. “It’s just as clear as the nose on your face.”
Anderson likes things that are plain as noses. Because he doesn’t fully trust those college professors with their tweed jackets and standard deviations.
“There really is no punishment for them if they put something out that doesn’t really have any validity,” Anderson says.
He's a real-world guy. “My clients don’t pay me to take wild guesses," he says. "Which is why I’ve always thought that college professors that have never practiced should get out and practice awhile. They might be surprised what they’d learn in reality. Things are much different when you get off the college campus.”
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Got that good old bpu bill again today we used 30.78 of water but yet the polution abatament @ averg 11 was more than the water we used 38.90 was the charge I gotta get out of here
Once again, this fawning acolyte of Texas Governor and fellow-lunatic Rick Perry is looking for a way to shift the burden to the poor and the middle class, in the form of property tax increases, rent increases, homeowner's association dues increases, sales tax increases and the decimation of state-funded programs to assist the sick, the poor, the mentally ill, the disabled, the elderly, the children, the unemployed, visitors to Kansas and the teachers, artists, writers, singers, composers, musicians and dancers among us. Write to the BROWNBACKISTAN ADMINISTRATION RESISTANCE FORCE for details. BARF4KANSAS@gmail.com
Have you ever been in Hays in February when the gray fields merge with the gray sky so you can't tell where one ends and the other begins? Depressing! Or cruise down the Emporia/Topeka/Salina strips of fast food places? That's why people leave Kansas. It's turned into an ugly, depressing place. And no taxes won't fix that.
Kansas is one of the cheapest places to live in the country, it's not the cost of living that's driving people off. Perhaps if he spent more time in Kansas instead of Texas and D.C. he might now something about this state.
All this imagration and political crap is for the birds I own a home in wyandotte county and i wanna sell it and move back to missouri because kcbpu bill is outragious like 300.00 and property taxes are to high and i have lived her for 20 plus years. Time to go Oh and not to mention whats the difference to tag a vehical.
Kansas is becoming another lil' Mexico, maybe that is why many are leaving! If our elected officials would do something about the illegals, now we will be getting how many from GA??
"...said two of the Hispanic families in his congregation of about 60 people at Iglesia Bautista Vida Abundante on Clairmont Road have already fled to Kansas..."
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/many-immigrants-leaving-georgia-967054.html
This is Jack. Finally a liberal who kinda sorta understands capitalism. I concede that demand drives job creation, and not government spending or artificial price floors/caps. But to finish the thought... what drives demand? The whimsical purchase of a vehicle, or a house... What drives a person to purchase (ie. create demand) for these items? FREEDOM TO SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY. Notice that the rest of the Google executives back away from the idiot who wants more taxes. Why? The like the freedom to spend their own money the way they want. They don't want government dictating that we have to "sell guns to Mexico." If you don't like the Koch brothers, DON'T BUY THEIR PRODUCTS, and persuade others to do the same. To the comment about KS healthcare, how much do you want the rest of the world to pay for care of your loved one? Did they smoke, did they drink, did they use drugs, did they have promiscuous sex, did they procure stolen goods? Do they deserve to be saved if they intentionally wrecked the lives of other?... I don't want my tax dollar paying for that person's "right" to life if they have taken someones life. Insurance companies... fine. But government, No. And taxes probably have a very negligible effect on personal location, but... businesses locate where there are low taxes, and THAT causes a person to locate there.
When are you Koch Dittoheads going to figure it out? NO BUSINESS EVER PAYS TAXES!! They are passed on to the customer. Example, sales taxes are to be held in trust for the state. Read a book on accounting.
If my family were to leave Kansas, it would not be the result of the relative tax rate. We would leave for a state that has a functioning healthcare system that allows people with preexisting conditions to obtain health insurance.
"If president G. W. Bush was still in office, would you say, "Here, I want to pay more taxes?"
Would I, as a liberal, literally walk up to him and ask him if I could pay more taxes? Probably not. I would have preferred that he raise taxes (or kept the taxes at the rate that they were at) to pay for everything that happened under his watch that put us in horrible horrible debt.
Also, I really don't understand why anti-liberal crusaders come onto a liberal alternative weekly website and bitch about how liberal the alternative weekly is. If you guys want to present an argument, and back it up with citations that counter the author, then by all means do so. It would be better than "ALL LIBERALS ARE BIASED IDIOTS" that I constantly see in the comments.
The problem with the "logic and math" argument is that Brownback hasn't explained what will replace the income tax revenue. Increased sales tax? Increased property tax?
Either of those would increase overall taxation (and therefore reduce disposable income) for a middle class household. Given that consumption is what drives the economy, and that ten $50k households spend WAY more marginal dollars than one $500k household, this is a bad idea.
TO JACK:
"It's a math/logic problem, and liberals can't do math and logic. David Martin is liberal, ergo.. He can't figure this one out. "Tax me, I'm rich" is just asinine. Why doesn't that Google idiot that said it just provide low interest loans to small businesses, and cut out the middle man - the US government? BECAUSE HE IS AN IDIOT! If president G. W. Bush was still in office, would you say, "Here, I want to pay more taxes?" NO YOU FREAKING IDIOT LIBERALS! Taxes are not good for business. The only ones that benefit are businesses that have huge government contracts. And liberals tend to hate defense spending. Figure this out, people, more taxes=less jobs. Therefore, less taxes=more jobs. Logic people, logic."
----
No moron, demand creates jobs. Do you remember that from your introduction to economics in 5th grade? If there is no one to buy your product, you won't make any revenue. Therefore, if there is no revenue, then the tax rate is completely irrelevant because you aren't paying any taxes anyways. For example: "If only my taxes were lower, I'd could hire more people," this argument is BS because unless the offset provided by the lower taxes is actually enough to cover the cost of additional employees, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage. Why would a smart business owner hire people when he has enough people to meet his current demand, especially when his lower tax rate doesn't even cover the cost of those additional helpers? He'll either save the money or buy a new printer that was made in China which does not create any jobs here.
If it's such a simple math problem why can't any of your supposedly smart guys on the right figure that out? The Koch brothers went from #44 on the richest folks in America to #4 in the last decade, over that same time, 1300 people who worked for them lost jobs. How did they make their income? Mostly through speculation in the oil markets which many economists have attributed to a nearly 30-40% increase in the cost of gas over the last year. Folks like the Koch brothers have never been doing as good as they are right now and they also have relatively low taxes, yet, they don't seem to be hiring anyone. That is a fact.
Demand drives job creation, not taxes. Extremely high taxes may in some cases prohibit job growth, but by and large that is not the case. Currently, we are all paying some of the lowest taxes in nearly 80 years and yet job growth is stagnant.
So before you want to come in here and start lecturing "idiot liberals" about economics, I suggest you get some damn facts.
Pompous ass...
It's a math/logic problem, and liberals can't do math and logic. David Martin is liberal, ergo.. He can't figure this one out. "Tax me, I'm rich" is just asinine. Why doesn't that Google idiot that said it just provide low interest loans to small businesses, and cut out the middle man - the US government? BECAUSE HE IS AN IDIOT! If president G. W. Bush was still in office, would you say, "Here, I want to pay more taxes?" NO YOU FREAKING IDIOT LIBERALS! Taxes are not good for business. The only ones that benefit are businesses that have huge government contracts. And liberals tend to hate defense spending. Figure this out, people, more taxes=less jobs. Therefore, less taxes=more jobs. Logic people, logic.
Why not try it out? Of course, its going to get blasted just because its Brownback.
Why do people always think Growth and more growth is a good thing? It's not always the the best thing.
Texas and Florida also grew because of warm weather, plentiful good jobs in texas, good recreational opportunities like golf courses and other factors.
Texas has some enormously high property taxes.
"To Anderson, the evidence is clear. Florida, Texas and other states that don’t tax income are growing. Therefore, tax cuts lead to growth. “What I have seen is that income taxes change behavior,” he tells The Pitch. “It’s just as clear as the nose on your face.”
I am not sure I would say Texas of Florida are growing in an economic sense. The Texas unemployment rate is still high (though lower than the national average) and 1 in 4 are without insurance. Florida's unemployment rate is higher than the national average. Also, just because the population is growing doesn't necessarily mean that people from states with income taxes are moving to those states specifically because of low taxes. High birthrate (in Texas at least), immigration, and a warmer climate should probably figure in as well. Kansas cannot change the climate and I doubt the citizens of Kansas wants higher immigration or birthrate.
Mr. Martin,
NJ has the highest outbound migration in the nation. It's been this way for several years now. People are leaving because the state has the highest taxes in the nation and is uncompetitive with neighboring states. By, cherry-picking one study on the "millionaire's tax" you fail to see the forest for the trees. But you are so obviously biased and clearly have such an agenda in your article (to wit: the gratuitous Koch meme) that you would never take the time to actually look at the big picture in New Jersey and other high tax states and report on this issue in an even-handed manner.
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