More revenue good for budget, bad for gaming

It’s great news that the state expects to collect $289 million more in revenue through June 2007 than had been projected, as state budget officials announced Monday. This extra money should help the state pay for the first two years of a three-year school funding plan and avoid another costly special session. Unfortunately, it also likely means that the pressure will be off lawmakers to look for budget cuts, such as consolidating school administration costs, and to let local voters decide for themselves whether they want expanded gaming.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

5 Comments

  1. JWink
    Posted April 18, 2006 at 5:54 am | Permalink

    My guess is increased revenue to the State of Kansas is mostly due to inflation, increase in utility costs and to increased price of gasoline at the gas pump. In other words, increased Kansas tax revenues, unfortunately, are probably NOT due to increased production in the Kansas work place. Does anyone out there have statistics on this?

  2. Ben Huie
    Posted April 18, 2006 at 7:39 am | Permalink

    I think you are at least partly correct. However, there does seem to be evidence of a decrease in unemployment which would indicate an increase in real economic activity. However, with continuously increasing energy costs we should be preparing for an oil-induced recession.

  3. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted April 18, 2006 at 8:34 am | Permalink

    This proves once again that kansas’ famous moral outrage only extends as far as the tax bill.

    Either something is immoral or it is not. Morality does not depend on revenue estimates to determine what is right or wrong.

    So much for the moralists who think gambling is wrong unless we need the money.

    Kansas… in god we trust, but all others pay cash!!

  4. KansasClassicLiberal
    Posted April 18, 2006 at 11:10 am | Permalink

    I believe that in Kansas, the motor fuel tax is a fixed number of dollars (cents, if you prefer) per gallon, not a percent of the price. Therefore, the cost of the gasoline doesn’t affect the amount of tax collected.

    Except that higher gasoline prices lead to fewer gallons purchased, and therefore to fewer dollars of tax collected, than had the price not changed.

    By the way, is it really good that the state has collected more tax? Excepting that higher tax collections are a surrogate for increased economic activity, I don’t think so. I would rather see the government leave more money in our own pockets, to spend as we see fit.

  5. Shocker'07
    Posted April 18, 2006 at 12:09 pm | Permalink

    I think you’re right about the gas tax, KCL. Like the rest of us, I’ll hold my breath that the increased revenue has anything to do with an improving economy. Bottom line, this is bad news for democracy–now we probably have NO chance to vote on the casino.