Governor Sam Brownback is proposing a hike in taxes on alcohol and tobacco products to help close projected shortfalls in the state budget. Brownback want to raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes by about $1.50 per pack, bringing the total state taxes to $2.29 per pack. His plan would also boost the tax on liquor would from 8 percent to 12 percent. But Fort Hays State University Political Science Professor Chapman Rackaway says the governor doesn’t always get everything he wants and, he says, the tax plan that eventually emerges from the legislature could be considerably different from what Brownback is proposing.
Governor Brownback also proposes making future personal income tax cuts more gradual than promised under reductions enacted in 2012 and 2013. Brownback says the tax changes would help close a budget gap that's projected surpass $710 million for this fiscal year and the one that begins in July.
