Kansas Republican plan for flat tax and tax cuts dies after House fails to override veto

The Kansas House of Representatives failed to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a Republican tax cut plan on Tuesday.

House Bill 2284 originally passed both the House and Senate a month ago. Voting histories suggested the House had the supermajority required to override the veto, which the House had to take up this week, while the Senate appeared one vote short.

But Tuesday's vote was 81-42 as the House failed to reach the 84 required for a supermajority. There were 80 Republicans and one Democrat favoring an override, while 37 Democrats and five Republicans voted no. Two Democrats were absent.

House Minority Leader Vic Miller, D-Topeka, made a procedural motion to reconsider the vote, which failed, officially killing the bill.

Reps. Randy Garber, R-Sabetha; Mike Dodson, R-Manhattan; Mark Schreiber, R-Emporia; and Rep. Trevor Jacobs, R-Fort Scott, flipped their votes after initially supporting it last month. Rep. David Younger, R-Ulysses, voted against the tax plan last month and on Tuesday.

Garber told the House that he flipped his vote because the Senate will not override the veto, and that the Senate would have waited another 30 days to take the vote.

More: Kansas Republicans are one vote short ahead of anticipated flat tax veto override attempt

"We are nearly at the end of the regular session," Garber said. "The Senate president has stated with no flat income tax there will be no tax relief. The governor has stated if the Legislature adjourns without passing tax relief I will call them back for special session. While I am neutral on the flat tax, I will not continue on this path to failure."

Democrats have opposed the bill throughout due to the 5.25% single-rate tax on all earnings over $6,150 for an individual or $12,300 for a married couple. Many of the provisions in the GOP's plan, like state property tax exemptions for the first $100,000 of assessed value, addressing the Social Security cliff and ending the food sales tax, are included in Kelly's proposed tax cuts.

"The legislature's decision to sustain my veto is a win for working and middle-class Kansans who would have seen little relief under this irresponsible flat tax experiment," Kelly said in a statement. "Now, we should move forward the bipartisan plan I proposed on the first day of legislative session to cut $1 billion in taxes over the next three years, without risking funding for our public schools and roads."

More: Laura Kelly vetoes Republican tax cut plan, calls it 'reckless' and 'back to Brownback'

But Kelly's plan would have to be allowed to get a vote on the floor by Republican leadership, who criticized opponents of the GOP plan.

"It's irresponsible and unacceptable that Governor Kelly and her allies chose to play politics and deny meaningful tax relief to all Kansans," said a joint statement from House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita; Majority Leader Chris Croft, R-Overland Park, and Speaker Pro Tempore Blake Carpenter, R-Derby. "The Democrats' games are played at the expense of real people who need relief now. House Republicans are committed to putting the people of Kansans before election year gamesmanship."

In a press conference after the vote, Miller pushed back on claims of gamesmanship and dared Republicans to run bills on individual proposals in the bill. He also said that Republicans will have to allow any tax proposal to move forward.

"We don't control the agenda, we recognize we're outnumbered," Miller said. "What we're asking for is for reasonable minds to prevail. And that we sit down and work out what we can agree to."

The bill that failed Tuesday didn't get debated in a typical manner. It was passed via conference committee, meaning that it didn't go through the normal committee process and legislators couldn't propose amendments on the floor.

Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, said there's still ways that tax cuts could pass this session.

"We have plenty of time, this isn't like we're at the end of the session," Sawyer said.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas Republicans' tax plan falls as House fails to override veto