'Why Would You Take This Failed Experiment Nationwide?'

Kansas has already witnessed the failure of the GOP's tax bill
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 29, 2017 5:17 PM CST
GOP Tax Bill Was Already a Disaster— in Kansas
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on nominations on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“Why would you take this failed experiment nationwide?" That was the question constituent Robynn Andracsek posed to Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran last week, and it's one that's on the mind of the Kansas City Star editorial board given that Moran could be the "deciding vote" on the Republican tax bill. The Star calls the bill "a big, juicy break for the wealthiest families in America and a meager, mixed bag of lollipops and rocks for everyone else," adding that the lollipops "disappear after a few years." It also gives the editorial board flashbacks to 2012, when Gov. Sam Brownback got rid of the state income tax for 330,000 business owners in the name of job creation.

Only those jobs never came, and the state ended up taking money that was meant to pay for schools and highways to balance its budget. Brownback's tax break was repealed by Kansas lawmakers this year. The Star says Moran "has already seen, first-hand, during a very painful five years, what will happen if" the Republican tax bill passes. "You know what’s wrong with this bill," the editorial board writes. "So all you have to do now is vote accordingly." Or as Andracsek put it to Moran: “Our members of Congress should be the ones leading the way for tax reform that actually affects normal people, not just millionaires and billionaires.” Read the full piece here. (More tax reform stories.)

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