Two former KS lieutenant governors blast Brownback tax policies

Two former Kansas lieutenant governors today blasted Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax-cut plan as a failure that has fallen way short in creating jobs.

Gary Sherrer, a Republican from Overland Park who served under Gov. Bill Graves, and John Moore, a Democrat from Wichita who served under Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, said the Brownback plan has not worked.

“And it will not work,” the two wrote in an op-ed for publication.

The two, both of whom are supporting Democrat Paul Davis for governor this year, pointed to a recent study that showed Kansas ranked 46th in the country for private-sector job creation.

“The state’s job growth rate is significantly below those of all our surrounding states,” the two wrote. “Job growth in Missouri is almost twice that of the growth rate in Kansas.”

Sherrer and Moore said they both had been involved in recruiting businesses to the state in their roles as former state secretaries of commerce. In their experience, “State income taxes never factored into the decision-making process.”

The two said the loss in billions of dollars in revenues has undermined investment in education and highways “that are always essential to economic growth.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2014 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Two former KS lieutenant governors blast Brownback tax policies."