As it has been shown time and again, so-called “trickle down” economic policy only serves the rich. This is clearly evident in the state of Kansas, where governor Sam Brownback enacted massive tax cuts for the rich in 2012 and 2013. The rationale was the same feeble argument that the cuts would pay for themselves and that everybody would be better off.
As expected, the tax cuts were a colossal failure, and except for the millionaires that were helped by the cuts, Kansas is dying financially. The obvious solution to this mess is to repeal the tax cuts that caused the problem. However, Brownback and his republican allies have eschewed that strategy in favor of raising taxes that will hit the poor of Kansas the hardest.
Brownback wants to increase sales and excise taxes, which means very little if you’re already rich and getting tax breaks. Instead, the poor will have to buck up and tighten their belts even more. These new taxes will make the poor even poorer by bumping up the percentage of their income that is spent on taxes. Since the poor don’t really offer Brownback and the republicans anything in the way of campaign contributions, they make for an easy target.
Many republicans and economists have watched the situation in Kansas closely. Conservatives were hoping this strategy would be validation of tax cuts for the wealthy, but now they are left to spin this to make it look like some other devious factors were to blame.