A few lines in GOP bill blew up a red state — and one of its architects is running for gov
Kansans may remember the rise and spectacular fall of Gov. Sam Brownback’s disastrous tax experiment, which was designed to eliminate the state income tax. Less well known to Kansans is the key role that current gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson played in the enactment and execution of the failed experiment.
The plan enacted by Republican lawmakers in 2012 gave Kansas four years of unbalanced budgets, unfair tax increases, and historic debt.
By 2016, Kansans had seen enough of the financial fiasco and elected a majority of moderate state lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, to abandon the experiment and restore sanity to state finance. The infamous tax experiment gave Brownback the lowest approval ratings in the nation and a stigma that haunts the former governor and his lead ally Masterson to this day.
A bit of history is helpful.
For starters, Masterson was the primary beneficiary of the ouster of moderate Republican leaders from the state Senate in the primary elections of 2012. This shakeup was initiated and carried out by a handful of well-heeled donors who took control of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and called for outright elimination of the state income tax. The Chamber PAC raised a campaign chest of nearly $1 million to carry out the purge, and it worked.
As a consequence, Masterson was elevated from his position as a freshman state senator to chair of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee. The primary job of this committee is to manage state finance — oversee tax revenues and spending and approve a state budget.
Over the next four years, Masterson would use his position to keep the failing tax experiment on life support. In the face of plummeting state revenues, he and his committee signed off on a sea of red ink. Their deficit spending plunged general fund balances from $709 million in 2013, to $380 million in 2014, to $72 million in 2015, to $37 million in 2016.
To save the experiment, Masterson and his committee snatched revenues from other funds. For example, in a series of sweeps from the highway fund in 2012 through 2017, $1.9 billion was diverted from highway improvements to plug the hole left by sinking income tax collections.
In 2015, they tried to hide their misdeeds: A few lines slipped into the 340-page omnibus appropriation bill allowed KDOT to issue unlimited debt. KDOT then quietly used this authority to issue $400 million in new debt, which was quickly swept to pay for income tax cuts. State tax-supported debt ballooned to an historic high of $4.5 billion, and state credit was downgraded in the process.
In the 2016 legislative session, Masterson and his committee staged a final act of desperation. With state balances underwater, they enacted a budget in which spending exceeded revenues by $100 million in an attempt to force the governor to cut core services.
Former Gov. Mike Hayden called them out: “They should be ashamed.”
In fact, the deficit would balloon to $350 million.
Kansas voters had their fill of Masterson’s financial shenanigans and mismanagement. In 2016, they elected a majority of centrist lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, who campaigned to abandon the tax experiment. Forty contested legislative seats went against Brownback, Masterson and their allies.
In 2017, the revamped Senate majority dumped Masterson and most of his collaborators from the Ways and Means Committee and began the work of repairing state finances. To the very end, Masterson pleaded with colleagues to save the experiment, but his credibility had evaporated.
Lawmakers voted to abandon Brownback’s experiment and then voted to override the governor’s veto. In the Senate, 18 Republicans and nine Democrats voted to override Brownback’s veto and abandon the disastrous tax experiment.
In 2018, Brownback vacated the office of governor a year early and accepted an appointment in the Trump administration. That November, state Sen. Laura Kelly was elected governor on a campaign of restoring soundness to state finance.
Ty Masterson is now running for governor of Kansas pledging to cut taxes once again. Kansas voters should become informed of his experience in doing so.
This column draws from “Brownback’s Red State Governance,” chapter six in Michael A. Smith and H. Edward Flentje, eds., “Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics” (University Press of Kansas, 2025). Sources for the column can be found in that chapter.
H. Edward Flentje is a professor emeritus at Wichita State University and formerly was director and professor in the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs at the university. He has written and edited numerous publications, including most recently co-writing and co-editing “Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics.” Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.
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