In Washington, President Obama and Congressional Democrats secured a historic fiscal victory in early January.  By finally passing legislation that asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes, lawmakers moved one step closer to securing our nation’s fiscal health. At the state level though, Republican Governors from around the country are pushing for tax reforms that would do the exact opposite. These governors want to see income taxes reduced or eliminated while raising other more regressive taxes that harm low- and middle-income taxpayers.  These pieces of legislation are taken straight from the radical conservative playbook in an effort to transfer the burden of paying for public services from the wealthiest to the less well off. The Republican argument is that if a state lowers their income tax rate it will become more competitive in the eye of businesses who may want to relocate there or to help attract high-skilled workers. For example, according to a recent New York Times article, Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback introduced legislation to phase out the state’s income tax by cutting services and keeping in place what was meant to be a temporary increase in the state’s sales tax. Republican lawmakers in Kansas said that individuals were leaving the state to move to states that do not have income taxes and that this legislation would make them more competitive. In reality, recent evidence points to the fact that there is no correlation between a state income tax rate and economic growth. What is worse is that these policies are simply another gift to the rich at the expense of low- and middle-income workers. [Read more…]