Print edition: 
The debate over Gov. Sam Brownback's goal of gradually eliminating the income tax in Kansas has been primarily focused on personal philosophy. But the cold, hard facts reveal that tax reform is about solving a very serious problem.
The first step of problem resolution is acknowledging its magnitude, and Kansas is facing an employment problem of epic proportions. In the recession before the latest one, it took 32 months for private-sector employment to hit bottom; we lost 46,200 jobs and it took almost six years to return to the previous peak. This time, we lost 90,400 jobs over 34 months, and recovery will be much slower unless we take dramatic action.
We're already falling behind. Kansas is the only state whose average annual private-sector employment is below its 2010 average. Part of the reason is that, unlike most states, Kansas chose to continue raising taxes last year. The Kansas Legislative Research Department says state and local taxes grew at nearly twice the rate of inflation between 2000 and 2010, with the full impact of the sales-tax increase not yet realized.
Jobs and taxpayers have been migrating from high-burden states to low-burden states for some time. Between 1998 and 2010, private-sector jobs in the 10 states with the highest state and local tax burden increased by 1 percent, whereas they grew by 8.8 percent in the 10 lowest-burden states. At the same time, Kansas lost 1.2 percent of private-sector jobs. Not surprisingly, the nine states with no personal income tax did even better; they added 1.7 million jobs while the rest of the country lost 300,000.
We must reduce our tax burden to create jobs and economic growth. Gradually eliminating the state income tax will have the greatest impact.
Eliminating the income tax would not cause crippling reductions in essential services. Letting taxpayers keep more of their income will increase sales-tax receipts, as much more money will be spent on taxable goods.
That's exactly what Oklahoma experienced when it reduced its income-tax rate. Now, Gov. Mary Fallin is working to eliminate Oklahoma's income tax. Missouri is considering doing the same. Imagine the impact if one or two of our neighbors did so while Kansas is still keeping taxes high.
Questions about the transition are understandable, but it's pretty clear that not having an income tax hasn't prevented states from funding services. In fact, general-fund spending in the nine no-income-tax states increased 54 percent between 2000 and 2008, while rising 46 percent in other states. Per-pupil spending increases on education between 1998 and 2008 ranged from 50 to 123 percent. Not having an income tax didn't prevent those states from spending; if anything, their economic growth made it easier.
Opponents say that spending more money on infrastructure and education is what drives job creation. They cite studies saying that having a good highway system and a skilled workforce are important. Fortunately, Kansas has both. But we also have an extremely uncompetitive tax burden that prompts employers to go elsewhere.
Eliminating the income tax is about job creation and economic growth. Continuing our tax-and-spend ways will only make it easier for other states to pick off more Kansas jobs, and make a challenging situation far worse.
