Kansas Center for Economic Growth releases budget guide

The Kansas Center for Economic Growth released a budget guide Monday.

“We’re excited to have this evergreen document that can help educate Kansans about the budget process, what goes into the budget process, kind of the basics of budget and tax policy,” said Emily Fetsch with KCEG. “The timing makes a lot of sense, as the consensus revenue estimates come in later this week and then as the Legislature returns in May to finish up the budget for the upcoming year.”

KCEG sees Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 22 as a key victory to keep the state’s budget stable this year.

“Our budget guide really goes into detail about, what are the revenue sources for the state general fund and then, what do we spend that money on?” said Fetsch. “A lot of the things that we are spending the state general fund on are things that are all really important, education, health care, public safety. Our taxes aren’t just going into the ether. They’re going into things that we all care about.”

There were some legislative priorities rolled into Senate Bill 22 that KCEG would like to see addressed separately.

“Kansas Center for Economic Growth believes that we should be addressing the high cost of food, as well as considering an internet sales tax,” said Fetsch. “These are worthy subjects for legislators to discuss, but they should be debated on their own terms and not as something added on to a terrible bill.”

The omnibus budget bill that ties up the loose ends for the state will need to be passed when the legislature returns in May.