Trabert blames budget problems on failure to cut

The state’s ongoing budget problems could have been avoided with a one-time 8.5 percent reduction in state spending, argues Dave Trabert, president of the Kansas Policy Institute. Is that all? Speaking at a conference on government cronyism this week in Kansas City, Mo., Trabert complained that state lawmakers lacked the necessary courage in 2013 to reduce spending after the 2012 tax cuts triggered a sharp drop in state revenue, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. “Legislators did not want to reduce the cost of government,” Trabert said. Maybe lawmakers believed Gov. Sam Brownback’s rhetoric that the tax cuts would act “like a shot of adrenaline” to the Kansas economy. – Phillip Brownlee

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Trabert blames budget problems on failure to cut."