Kansas’ checking account balance? $764.8 million

According to the Kansas Division of Budget, the state will end the fiscal year, which ended June 30, with about $764.8 million in its checking account — nearly $90.7 million more than was predicted by Legislative Research.

If, after all the final checks clear, that is the ending balance, it will be the largest since 2007.

Supporters of Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax plan to reduce income taxes and make the state more business friendly will point to the balance and say the year’s budget cuts and line-item vetoes in the Omnibus appropriations bill are working to make the state more financially secure. But also figured into the equation is the fact that individual income tax payments, in large part because of federal and state tax changes, were nearly $69 million above estimates.

But Brownback supporters need to be cautious in their optimism because the effect of the governor’s massive tax cuts in 2012 won’t be known until later this year when state’s Consensus Revenue Estimate comes out in November.

Opponents to the tax cuts say the state’s revenue will be dramatically reduced for the next several years.

 

Which Kansas is that?

Guest Editorial: From the Wichita Eagle

Gov. Sam Brownback drew the honor Saturday of delivering the Republican weekly address, which is meant to respond to the Democratic president’s weekly address. In the process, Brownback painted an unrecognizable picture of the state after two years of his leadership.

After saying “you change America by changing the states,” Brownback ran into trouble with some specifics of what he called Kansas’ “financial turnaround.”

When he said Kansas went from having $876.05 in the bank to a $500 million ending balance two years later “and did it without tax increases,” he left out the part where a 1 percent sales-tax increase passed in 2010 sustained state revenues and state services as the federal stimulus money dried up and the economy struggled. Nor did he mention that he campaigned against the temporary sales-tax hike in 2010, helped last year to oust moderate Republican legislators who had voted for it and now wants the 2013 Legislature to make it permanent.

Talk about a turnaround.

Jordan to speak at Elephant Club Feb. 19

Johnson County Republican Party is honored to present the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue Nick Jordan will discuss Pro-Growth Tax Reform and answer questions during the Johnson County Republican Party’s Elephant Club Luncheon at noon Feb. 19 at the Hereford House, 5001 Town Center Drive, Leawood.

Registration and networking begins at 11:30 a.m. The program will end promptly at 1 p.m.

Reception, inaugural events set for commissioners

A farewell reception is scheduled on Thursday, Jan. 10, in honor of Johnson County’s Third District Commissioner David Lindstrom and Sixth District Commissioner Calvin Hayden, who are leaving their elected office with the start of the New Year.

The public event will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Room 200 located on the Lower Level of the Johnson County Administration Building, 111 South Cherry Street, in downtown Olathe.

Lindstrom is leaving the Board of County Commissioners after serving 10 years. Hayden has served for the past four years.

Republican Colin Powell endorses Obama

Normally, I don’t put much stock in political endorsements.

They usually come from self-proclaimed “experts” who vote the party line, anyway. They come from right-winged or far-left factions telling their followers how to vote. And it’s a tradition with most newspapers to endorse candidates they say will best serve constituents.

All of which is a bunch of, thank-you-Joe-Biden, malarkey!