The funny thing about experiments is that sometimes you make a new discovery — and sometimes you blow up the garage.
So it is that the Kansas experiment in Tea Party economics has been endlessly fascinating. The result? Well, let’s just say it’s time to rebuild the garage . . . and the living room . . . and the kitchen. Sometimes experiments result in collateral damage.
Last week, the Kansas Legislature overrode a veto from Gov. Sam Brownback in order to hike taxes. This was a repudiation of policies the conservative governor pushed through after taking office in 2010, policies that cling to modern conservative dogma and make for appealing sound bites yet have no foundation in reality.
Now, you might wonder why the dumpster fire that is Kansas is of interest to those of us in the liberal enclave that is Washington. Yet the experiment in the heartland should serve as a lesson for all.
With support from lawmakers, Brownback reduced the state income tax, eliminated taxes on small businesses, and slashed other taxes. He promised the tax cuts would be “like a shot of adrenaline in the heart of the Kansas economy,” with growing businesses employing more people and eventually bolstering the state’s tax base.
It is a familiar claim, one that Republicans have embraced since Ronald Reagan introduced the fallacy that is trickle-down economics to the general public.
Reagan provided a vast federal tax cut, saying that leaving job creators with more money will allow them to do what they do best — create jobs, which in turn would actually boost tax collections. Conservatives love to tell that story, but they generally leave out the fact that Reagan subsequently raised taxes multiple times (most experts say 11 times), usually by eliminating loopholes.
And they generally leave out the fact about who gets trickled upon with trickle-down economics. As Thom Hartmann recently wrote under the headline “Reaganomics killed America’s middle class” for Salon.com: “The top tax rate for all the time America’s middle class was created was between 74 and 91 percent. Until, of course, Reagan dropped it to 28 percent and working people moved from the middle class to becoming the working poor.”
All of which is why the Kansas experiment has been so interesting. Despite Brownback’s theory of job growth, the state has lagged behind the national level for growth, and behind that of neighboring Missouri. Despite the assertion that the economy would blossom, Kansas has wilted. The state has diverted spending on infrastructure, higher education, K-12 education, and the social safety net — you know, things that generally mark the difference between civilization and dystopia.
A long nightmare
Kansas lawmakers have finally had enough, recognizing that rather than becoming a shining example of conservative economics, they have become a laughing stock. Maybe they just got tired of winning all the time.
Which points out why all of this matters to Washingtonians and everybody else in the United States. President Trump’s so-called tax plan embraces much of philosophy that blew up in the face of Kansans.
In April, Trump unveiled a tax plan that would reduce personal income tax, cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, and eliminate the estate tax. There are other provisions, as well, and the fine-tuned machine that is the Trump administration detailed all of this complexity involving trillions of dollars and hundreds of millions of taxpayers in a one-page policy paper.
White House officials heralded this plan as the “biggest tax cut in U.S. history” and said it would “pay for itself.” No word on whether they think it will be a shot of adrenaline in the heart of the economy.
For the good people of Kansas, the long nightmare that is trickle-down economics is finally coming to an end. For the rest of us, it might just be about to blow up.
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