Kansas Legislature Overrides Brownback Veto to Repeal Failed Tax Cuts - Republican-Controlled Legislature Rejects Supply-Side Economics After Devastating 5-Year Experiment

On June 6, 2017, the Republican-controlled Kansas legislature voted to override Governor Sam Brownback’s veto and repeal the massive tax cuts enacted in May 2012, marking one of the most decisive rejections of supply-side economics in modern American history. The veto override passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities as Republicans horrified at the damage to their state joined Democrats to reverse the disastrous ‘Kansas experiment.’ The 2012 tax cuts, designed by ALEC economist Arthur Laffer and promoted as a model for other states, had eliminated state income taxes on 330,000 pass-through businesses while slashing personal income tax rates, costing Kansas $700 million in the first year (over 11% of state revenues). Brownback claimed the cuts would deliver a ‘shot of adrenaline’ to the economy and create such robust growth that revenues would increase despite lower rates—the classic supply-side promise. Instead, the results were catastrophic across every measure. State revenues crashed and fell massively short of projections beginning in spring 2014. Kansas economic growth fell well below neighboring states and national averages, with job growth by spring 2017 less than half the national rate. The pass-through income tax elimination created enormous inequality: 330,000 business owners paid zero state income tax while teachers, nurses, and wage earners continued paying full rates. Kansas was forced to implement brutal cuts to education funding, infrastructure investment, and social services to cover revenue shortfalls. Credit rating agencies downgraded Kansas bonds multiple times due to fiscal mismanagement. Teachers fled the state seeking better pay and working conditions in neighboring states. The state’s prison system experienced riots due to understaffing and underfunding. Entire state agencies crumbled from lack of resources. By April 2017, 66% of Kansans disapproved of Brownback’s performance, with just 27% approving. The experiment provided compelling empirical evidence that tax cuts do not pay for themselves, do not create prosperity, and devastate states’ capacity to provide essential services—yet ALEC and conservative think tanks continued promoting virtually identical policies to other legislatures, demonstrating their agenda serves ideological and corporate interests rather than evidence-based policy. The Kansas debacle became a cautionary tale cited nationwide, temporarily slowing but not stopping the ALEC-driven race to eliminate state corporate and income taxes.