After a record-setting tax hike on the poor and middle class and
truly Draconian social service cuts, the state is so broke that
Brownback and Republicans had to…
It is more than likely that there are very few Americans who still
believe that the Republicans’ only economic policy, trickle down, is
anything but a raging failure. Obviously, Kansas residents suffering a
continued financial catastrophe still believe their governor, Sam
“trickle down” Brownback, when he promises that the god-sent trickle
down scheme to enrich the wealthy at the expense of the state’s budget,
the poor and middle class, education, and social services will make the
state the envy of the entire nation. Now, after a record-setting tax
hike on the poor and middle class and truly Draconian social service
cuts, the state is so broke that Brownback and Republicans had to resort
to issuing a certificate of indebtedness to prevent the state from
complete financial demise. It is the second year in a row that
Brownback’s disastrous trickle down experiment resulted in going in debt
to keep the state solvent while the rest of the nation not under
Republican control is experiencing economic growth.
A
certificate of indebtedness
is a form of monetary obligation that is sometimes issued by a public
entity or private corporations that are, for all intents and purposes,
like a bond; except they are not secured. A certificate of indebtedness
is, then, effectively what a normal American would consider an I.O.U.,
and depending on the person or entity issuing it, likely worthless as
far as having any legitimacy for making purchases or paying debts.
One thing is certain; in the real world Republicans
perpetually cite, no American family would even consider walking into a
grocery store, or schedule their car to be serviced, and expect them to
provide a product or service in return for an IOU. In fact, it is highly
likely that no American would consider trying to make a purchase or
schedule a service without having access to the available funds.
Instead, they would seek a means, likely by taking a second job, to
bring in enough revenue to pay their bills and buy their groceries.
This week, after yet another year of crushing debt
due to severe revenue shortfalls borne of “fiscally-responsible” trickle
down tax cuts for the rich and corporations, Kansas Republicans and
Governor Sam “fetus” Brownback signed off on the state’s largest tax
increase on the poor and middle class and issued a record $840 million
certificate of indebtedness for the upcoming fiscal year.
The desperation move came as Kansas’ budget director
verified what Sam Brownback, Republicans in the legislature, and most
of America have known for three years running; due to Brownback’s failed
repeat of shrub-Republicans’ 8-year failed trickle down experiment he
said his god overwhelmingly approved, the state government would have
insufficient resources to meet its obligated expenditures in the fiscal
year starting tomorrow, July 1, 2015.
The new Kansas record for an IOU in lieu of paying
its debts eclipsed the previous record that was set during the 2009
fiscal year after shrub-Republicans’ Great Recession crashed the state’s
revenue and after deep cuts failed to stem the budget crisis. At the
time, the Kansas State Finance Council issued three certificates of
indebtedness to borrow a total of $775 million that foreshadowed a
1-cent, three-year increase in the statewide sales tax in 2010 to put
the onus on the poor and middle class, again, to make up for another
Republican (shrub’s) trickle down failure that contributed to the Great
Recession. Just about one year ago the Finance Council approved another
indebtedness certificate to the tune of $675 million for the
currently-ending fiscal year that trickle down Sam had promised was the
last time because he swore that Kansas’ fiscal fortunes would
miraculously improve because tax cuts for the rich and corporations, and
therefore less tax revenue, was certain to bear trickle down fruit and
bring in much more tax revenue.
That is, after all, what Sam Brownback
promised throughout his re-election campaign while he held up the fetus
card, but when the Republican-led legislature returned for work in
January they were confronted with exactly what any sane human being
should expect when tax cuts for the rich and corporations produce less
tax revenue; another crushing revenue shortfall that required a series
of mid-year budget cuts to education, government, and social services.
Recently, when even drastic budget cuts failed, as expected, to bring in
more tax revenue, Brownback and Republicans passed a record tax
increase affecting the poor, middle class, and typical of Republicans,
managed care facilities for the elderly and disabled. Still, like any
American knows, slashing a budget or cutting expenses does not, and
cannot, bring in more revenue.
Instead of even considering rolling back unfunded
tax cuts for the rich and corporations, Republicans and their hero
Brownback approved $400 million in tax hikes in an attempt to close the
certain 2016 fiscal year budget deficit. Those tax hikes affecting the
poor and middle class were general sales taxes on necessities like
groceries, eliminating middle class citizens’ itemized deductions, and
imposing a tax increase on managed care facilities. The tax hikes on the
poor and harsh budget cuts were no solution for the Kansas revenue
shortfalls and going deeper in debt was Brownback and Republicans
solution of choice.
According to Brownback and Republican legislation,
instead of ending tax cuts for the rich, the governor had to come up
with $50 million in budget cuts and he naturally cut education,
healthcare, and social service funding. It never entered Brownback’s
mind to rescind even part of the tax cuts for the rich and corporations
because he has promised for three years that cutting revenue by giving
the wealthy and corporations tax cuts increases state revenue and allows
wealth to ‘trickle down’ to the poor and middle class.
On Friday last when Democratic lawmakers gathered at
the state capitol for ceremonial final day of the annual legislative
session, they expressed exactly the same exasperation they have over the
past two years with expansion of the state’s debt that must be repaid
by June 30, 2016. Obviously their exasperation is due to increasing the
state’s debt obligation after Brownback squandered the budget surplus he
was left by his predecessor, but also because they are well aware there
is no possible way the state’s revenue is going to increase as long as
Brownback’s tax cuts for the rich and corporations stay in place and cut
revenue.
The Kansas House Democratic Leader, Tom Burroughs,
uttered the obvious and said this record-setting escalation in borrowing
“illustrated the precarious financial condition of state government.”
Burroughs also noted that the only reason the state budget is in
freefall is because of the trickle down decisions in 2012 by Brownback
and the Republican-misled legislature that foolishly exempted 330,000
businesses from paying income taxes and slashed individual income tax
rates primarily affecting the very rich. Burroughs’ said “This is a
direct result of Brownback’s failed fiscal experiment. Until
members of the legislature take steps to implement a responsible and
sustainable budget, the state will continue to be forced to borrow money
to cover expenditures.” The Kansas Senate Minority Leader, Anthony
Hensley, was more blunt and said that the state’s budget woes are
entirely due to Brownback and Republican legislature’s “incompetence and mismanagement” of the budget. Hensley said that “Governor
Brownback and the Republican Legislature are responsible for the
largest tax increase in history and, now, the largest certificate of
indebtedness in history.”
What neither Hensley nor Burroughs would say out
loud is that unless Brownback and the Republican legislature rescind, or at
least drastically roll back, tax elimination for corporations and tax
cuts for the rich, next year at this time Kansas Financial Council will
be forced to issue yet another, record setting, certificate of
indebtedness while Brownback and Republicans make more drastic budget
cuts, pass another tax hike on the poor and middle class, and then
promise yet again that tax cuts for corporations and the rich will
create a revenue bonanza the entire nation will marvel at; it is the
same promise Brownback has made for the past three years and the results
have been, and will continue to be, the same.
It
was a mystery why Kansas voters re-elected Sam Brownback and a
Republican-misled legislature when everyone of the state’s residents
were aware that the state’s financial catastrophe was due to Brownback’s
failed trickle down ‘experiment.’ Still, Brownback knew that all he had
to do to guarantee he would get four more years to completely decimate
the state’s economy was drag out that tired old fetus to bring out the
religious right vote. Maybe it will take resident’s seeing their state
in bankruptcy, their roads crumbling before their eyes, and schools,
hospitals, and law enforcement agencies closing down before they come to
their questionable senses.
