KC Business Border War- Missouri Lawmakers Wonder if Kansas Tax Cuts Will Work

Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones is wary of repeating the large tax reform experiment now underway in Kansas.
The Sunflower state and Republican Governor Sam Brownback enacted big tax reforms in the 2012 session of the legislature.
Kansas consolidated three tax brackets down to two; lowered its tax rates, and exempted many small businesses from paying taxes.
Gov. Brownback and Kansas Republican legislators believe they will make up the money lost in the tax cuts with a revived, booming Kansas economy and more jobs.
Jones is a conservative Republican. He says any Missouri tax reform has to be done “smartly and reasonably”, with a long-term approach.
“They’re (the state of Kansas) going to have a pretty significant, some would say, a massive deficit,” Jones observed. He says it’s too early to know if their economy will respond fast enough.
Indeed, one Kansas budget projection, warns that state could find itself more than $300 million short of its obligations as early as mid-summer when the next fiscal year starts.
Another Missouri Conservative Republican, State Senator-elect Ryan Silvey is also skeptical of the Kansas tax reform move.
“The general sense I get from the legislators I talked to is what Kansas has done is probably not sustainable in the long run,” Silvey said.
The question”, Silvey added, “is how long does it take before collapse, and what happens to business on this side of the state line in the meantime?”
Jones; Silvey and other top lawmakers met with Kansas City business leaders Tuesday to push reforms that would make Missouri more competitive with Kansas.
Businesses in and around Kansas City have been recruited by Kansas to relocate there. A few companies, including the AMC Theater Corporate headquarters have done that.
In the Kansas City area, it’s referred to as the “Business Border War’.
Jones says Missouri has to react “smartly” but the state also has an obligation to what he called the Missouri who need state help “the most”, that would be the aged, children and people in deep poverty.
The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce hosted the Missouri lawmakers at a set of meetings Tuesday. The Chamber has drafted a list of legislative priorities for the 2013 session.
Many of the Chamber’s items, such as economic development, jobs, job training and tort reform are also on the GOP list of legislative priorities.
After this month’s elections, Missouri Republicans have ‘super-majorities’ in both the House and Senate. That means they have enough members to override any vetoes by Democratic Governor Jay Nixon.