As a resident of Lee’s Summit and a former Kansas teacher of 20 years who witnessed the Sam Brownback income tax experiment, I feel a deep sense of déjà vu watching Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson and Gov. Mike Kehoe push House Joint Resolution 174 — or what many of us in Missouri are calling the Everything Tax.
I have seen this movie before. And I know how it ends. Spoiler alert: not well for working-class people.
When Kansas slashed income taxes under then-Gov. Sam Brownback, families were promised growth and prosperity. Instead, schools were gutted, services were cut and families left scrambling to make ends meet. As a teacher at the time, I watched firsthand as the state’s finances unraveled. It took years to repair the damage…