GOP lawmakers approve a ‘flat’ income tax for Kansas, but a governor’s veto looms

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas on Thursday passed a broad package of tax cuts promoted as widespread relief that the Democratic governor is likely to veto because she says it favors the wealthy and threatens the state’s budget in the future.

The opposing viewpoints kept the two sides locked in a political impasse as the window for meaningful tax cuts narrows.

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The GOP-supermajority Legislature approved a plan to cut income, sales and property taxes by a total of nearly $1.6 billion over the next three years. But Gov. Laura Kelly is expected to veto the bill because it would move Kansas to a single personal income tax rate of 5.25% to replace three rates that now top out at 5.7%.