Recently retired Secretary of Revenue Joan Wagnon said Tuesday that the tax plan proposed by Gov. Sam Brownback hurts working families and the poor by literally picking their pockets as it preserves tax credits for banks and wealthy corporations.

 Wagnon analyzed the list of tax credits the Brownback plan proposes to remove, and the credits it proposes to preserve. She determined that the Brownback plan overwhelmingly favored banks, wealthy corporations and other businesses over wage earners. In some cases, like the tax credit for historic preservation, the plan allows banks and corporations to keep that credit while taking it away from individual taxpayers.

Under the plan, individual Kansans would lose $180 million in tax credits, while banks and wealthy corporations would retain almost all of their credits and deductions

“The governor has said he’s not picking winners and losers, but he is; he’s choosing banks and wealthy corporations over people,” Wagnon said. “This isn’t even remotely fair, and it drains funding from education.”

Wagnon retired in January 2011 after serving eight years as Kansas Secretary of Revenue. Today Wagnon serves as the chair of the Kansas Democratic Party. Wagnon issued her statement after completing a detailed review of the complex plan. In her first statement after seeing the plan, Wagnon also said:

If this plan ever becomes law, Kansans’ would no longer be able to claim a charitable deduction on their state income taxes for their church tithes and homeowners would no longer be able to deduct their home mortgage interest payments.

If this plan succeeds in doing nothing more than eliminating the Earned Income Tax Credit, as has been proposed, it will take money out of the pockets of at least 227,955 working Kansans.

If this plan only takes away the sales tax rebate for food, as has been proposed, it will take money from 365,159 Kansans.

If this plan only takes away the credit for child and dependent care expenses, it will take money from 71,963 Kansans at a time when child care is getting as expensive as college.

If this plan does nothing more than eliminate the tax credit for families who adopt children, it will be pick the pockets of 1,344 Kansans who are trying to provide a good home to needy children. 

I’m also deeply concerned by the implication that Kansans are only trying to defraud the state when they apply for an Earned Income Tax Credit. And make no mistake: By releasing materials listing the names of cases involving fraud in other states, the governor’s office is implying that Kansans who take this legal credit are criminals.

The proposed tax plan’s winners are wealthy corporations and banks and other businesses. The losers are wage earners. The losers are the people of Kansas, and that is just wrong. Everyone should pay their fair share.

All of the figures in this news release are from the Tax Expenditure Report, Calendar Year 2010, which was prepared by the Kansas Department of Revenue under Secretary of Revenue Nick Jordan.

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ABOUT JOAN WAGNON
Considered one of the nation’s top tax experts, Joan Wagnon retired in January 2011 after serving eight years as the Secretary of Revenue for the state of Kansas. She also represented Topeka in the Legislature for 12 years and chaired the House Taxation Committee for 2 of those years. Wagnon is the former chair of the Multistate Tax Commission and a past member of the board of directors for the Federation of Tax Administrators. Among other positions, Wagnon today serves as Chair of the Kansas Democratic Party. She is also the treasurer of the national board of directors of the Girl Scouts.