Kansas legislators are preparing to debate a proposal to raise additional revenue with a flat personal income tax which has the support Gov. Sam Brownback.
The Kansas Senate will be taking up the income tax bill on Thursday, a day after Gov. Brownback said publicly that he would sign it or something similar.
The proposed budget fix would impose a 4.6 percent rate for all filers starting next year. That is the top rate for higher-income earners, and the bill would eliminate the 2.7 percent rate now in place for lower-income filers.
It would end an exemption championed by the governor for 330,000-plus farmers and business owners.
The bill would raise about $652 million over two years. Kansas faces budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019.
