-->

Kansas governor renews request for federal relief

A request for an economic relief package was brought before Congress this week by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. In the case financial assistance at the federal level is not passed, Kelly expressed concern of a potential national recession.

While November tax collections again exceeded estimations, Governor Laura Kelly said that without federal support, future revenue growth – and our state’s ability to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic – may be compromised.

The State of Kansas saw November total tax collections at $556.8 million; 1.1%, or $6.0 million, more than the estimate. Compared to the same month of last fiscal year, this is a modest growth of 4.3%, or $22.9 million.

“Without economic relief from Washington, there is a growing concern of a national recession in the foreseeable future,” Governor Kelly said. “My administration renews its requests to Congress to prioritize and pass economic relief as the COVID-19 pandemic continues impacting Kansas households and the economic outlook of the state.”

Individual income tax collections were $275.4 million. That’s an increase of 0.4%, or $1.2 million, over the estimate. Compared to the same month of Fiscal Year 2020, that is an increase of 9.1%, or $22.9 million. Corporate income tax collections were $5.2 million, calculating to 5.7%, or $277,504, more than the estimate. These collections were down $5.4 million, or 51.0%, compared to November of last fiscal year. That decrease is attributable to refunds paid to corporations.

Retail sales tax collections were down $22,770 from the estimate with $201.7 million collected. However, this is $204,966, or 0.1%, more than collected in November of Fiscal Year 2020. Compensating use taxes, which are collected and remitted by online retailers, was $4.1 million, or 9.2%, more than the estimate with $49.2 million collected. That is $7.8 million more than collected last November.

“We have seen that with the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an accelerated change in consumer behavior favoring online purchases,” Secretary of Revenue Mark Burghart said. “This coming legislative session, we will be taking a closer look at the structure of the Kansas tax base. In the interim, the pandemic continues to negatively impact many Kansas-based brick and mortar stores which still need financial relief from the federal level.”