Republicans’ plan for zero state income tax could be ‘devastating’, experts warn

Hannah Rejali, 34, lived through the failed so-called “Kansas Experiment” in the 2010s, when the Republican governor cut the state’s income tax to try to give a “ shot of adrenaline ” to its economy but instead left the state with a $900m budget shortfall. That meant, for example, that in 2015, at least eight school districts ended their academic year early . “You say, [former Kansas governor Sam] Brownback, to anyone on the Kansas side, and they shudder,” Rejali said. Rejali now lives next door in Missouri, where Republicans now also want to eliminate the state income tax. A mother of four, she worries that it would lead to a reduction in state funding for schools. “From a public education standpoint, the income tax being removed would be pretty devastating,” said Rejali, who lives in Kansas City and co-owns a marketing agency. Missouri is the first state in more than a century where a state legislature is asking voters whether to eliminate the tax, the Associated Press reports . But the moves adds to other Republican-led states across the country that have also recently passed legislation to phase out income taxes. While advocates say that the proposed Missouri constitutional amendment – which the government would probably pair with a sales tax expansion – would attract new businesses and put extra money in the pockets of all residents, critics argue that it would hurt lower- and middle-income residents and only help the wealthy. …