When They Cut Taxes in Kansas, All Hell Broke Loose

Kansas thought they had achieved the conservative dream. In 2012, the state eliminated taxes on many business owners. The thinking, of course, was that taxes prevent growth: eliminate the taxes that businesses have to pay, and a new era of prosperity for all Kansans will follow.

The trouble is, taxes actually pay for state services—services that many businesses, especially small businesses, need. It wasn't long before the cut in services forced by the cut in taxes began to be felt.

That's when small businesses said enough was enough. They organized and, in 2017, persuaded the legislature, over the governor's veto, to repeal the tax cuts. As a farmer from Ellsworth County explained, "We feel that it is very important that we all contribute to ensure that we maintain good schools and infrastructure in our communities and state. Without everyone contributing to these programs, we will lose them and the high standard of living we have enjoyed in the state of Kansas."

A study of the tax cuts and the reaction against them can be found in a paper by Daniel R. Alvord, a professor sociology at the University of Kansas. The paper, titled "What Matters to Kansas: Small Business and the Defeat of the Kansas Tax Experiment," appears in the March 2020 issue of Politics & Society.

Alvord reflects on the "sociology" of small businesses. He contends that they should be seen as "embedded community institutions," and as such their success depends highly on a community's quality of life—and hence on the state services that taxes support.