Why's Kansas So Eager to Oversee Biggest Tax Increase Ever?

TopekaWhen you travel down I-70 west from the Kansas City airport to the Kansas capital of Topeka, you pass a sign that says You Are Entering the Land of Oz. Well, of late, there's a distinct we're not in Kansas anymore feeling to the place, given what's been going on in this traditionally bedrock conservative state.Some 70 percent of the legislators in Topeka are Republicans, and the voters here went overwhelmingly for Trump. But the Kansas House and Senate are poised to pass the largest tax increase in the state's history. This would be the third tax hike in five years. When lawmakers in the House spoke up for a billion dollar tax hike not long ago, the liberals in the chamber rose in thunderous applause. This latest revenue grab would effectively repeal Governor Sam Brownback's 2012 income tax cuts, his signature achievement.Brownback recently vetoed a similar tax scheme, and the tax-hike caucus came within three votes of an override. Now liberal Republicans, the dominant faction in the state thanks to massive teacher union money pumped into their campaigns, are teaming up with the few-and-far-between Democrats in the state to enact the nine-digit tax hike the left has craved for years. The conservative speaker of the House, Ron Ryckman, tells me forlornly, I'm just trying to get the votes for the least damaging tax increase possible.