An earnings tax in Kansas? Do counties really need a new way to take taxpayers’ money?

Is it fair that Kansans who work on the Missouri side of Kansas City pay a 1% earnings tax there — but it doesn’t work the other way around for Missourians who work on the Kansas side?

Probably not. But what if fixing that inequity would open the door to allowing all 105 counties in Kansas to levy a tax on income?

Be careful what you wish for — even when it’s fairness.

Identical bills currently before Kansas Senate and House tax committees — Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 2698 — would allow any county in the state to levy an earnings tax on its residents and others from out-of-county who work there.

It’s a well-meaning effort by state Sen. David Haley, a Democrat from Kansas City, to bring some equity to the bistate relationship. He says it’s only fair that Missourians working in Kansas City, Kansas, pay an earnings tax the same way his constituents who work on the Missouri side pay Kansas City’s.

He’s right in principle, of course. And even though the state’s cross-border workers get credit on their Kansas state income tax for the taxes they pay on the Missouri side, that means Kansas is helping subsidize taxes on the Missouri side of the border.

But the controlling law in this case may be the law of unintended consequences: Even Haley has to admit that the bill would open up the possibility of an earnings tax not just in border counties such as Wyandotte and Johnson, but in every other Kansas county as well.

A county earnings tax would require a public referendum to approve it, certainly. But still, most taxpayers would likely bemoan local units of government picking up the scent of yet another pathway to their pocketbooks.

Conscious of the fact that earnings taxes can apply to companies, the Kansas of Chamber of Commerce has been swift and sweeping in opposing county-level earnings taxes.

“This is another example of government entities in Kansas trying to increase the tax burden on working Kansans and small businesses,” chamber President and CEO Alan Cobb told The Star in a statement. “In today’s economy with so many employees and businesses working remotely, one shouldn’t be penalized because of where they work. Rather than increasing taxes, county governments should be looking for ways to reduce their costs.”

In addition, it’s not as if Kansans aren’t already paying enough in local property taxes, which have risen by more than $1 billion in the past decade, and now rank 18th-most-burdensome in the nation.

State Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Republican from Parker who chairs the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee, notes that property taxes skyrocketed 164% from 1997 to 2018, and has sponsored a pair of bills that would increase public notice, public hearings and public votes on property tax increases. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, is also working on incremental property tax relief.

As for handing counties the power to impose earnings taxes? Tyson is more than skeptical, while diplomatic.

“This would be a major change for the state of Kansas,” she told The Star. “I don’t know if that’s the way we want to go with this state.” Income and property taxes are already onerous, she said. Adding another, local, earnings tax? “I just don’t think that’s a winning equation.”

It is said one of the most powerful things in the world is an idea whose time has come. This is not the idea or the time.

Sometimes the most powerful thing to do is nothing.

This story was originally published February 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.