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Moody’s gives thumbs up to Brownback veto override

Gov. Sam Brownback, commenting Wednesday about the Legislature’s override of his veto of a bill increasing income taxes, says the resulting increases will be bad for the long-term health of the state’s economy.
Gov. Sam Brownback, commenting Wednesday about the Legislature’s override of his veto of a bill increasing income taxes, says the resulting increases will be bad for the long-term health of the state’s economy. John Hanna Associated Press

Moody’s Investor Service calls “credit positive” the vote by the Kansas Legislature to override Gov. Sam Brownback to approve a tax increase to reduce the budget shortfall.

“The decision is a significant step in the state utilizing its available economic resources to meet its obligations,” wrote Dan Seymour, vice president and senior analyst at Moody’s. “While Kansas must still contend with high unfunded pension liabilities and an unfavorable school funding court decision, these challenges are consistent with other highly rated states and within its ability to manage.”

Moody’s rates the State of Kansas as Aa2/negative outlook.

It downgraded the state to Aa2 in 2014 because of budget shortfalls, and last year added the “negative outlook” which means that the next change would be a further downgrade.

Dan Voorhis: 316-268-6577, @danvoorhis

This story was originally published June 8, 2017 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Moody’s gives thumbs up to Brownback veto override."

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