What Matters to Kansas

Small Business and the Defeat of the Kansas Tax Experiment

Bibliographic Data

ID2317440
AuthorsDaniel R Alvord (University of Kansas), Daniel Alvord (0000-0002-6728-2300, University of Kansas, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume48
Issue1
Pages27-66
Publication date2020-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Politics and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1531-426X • E-ISSN: 1548-2456
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0032329219894788
OpenAlexW3000063859
LanguageEN
Citations received2

Why would businesses advocate for a tax increase? They may take such a position, this article argues, when tax cuts threaten their long-term economic interests. In 2012, Kansas eliminated taxes on many business owners but destabilized the economy and exposed small business to the harshness of market forces. Small businesses rely more on state services than large businesses and are more situated in local communities. The literature suggests two main reasons for small businesses' 'enlightened self-interest' perspective. First, many benefited only marginally from the tax cuts. Second, the savings were offset by fiscal damage to state services that small businesses rely on. They advocated for higher taxes on themselves neither out of altruism nor entirely out of self-interest but recognizing that they had to pay taxes in order to stabilize the economic environment. In that position, small businesses in Kansas may occupy the moderating political role once occupied by a now-fractured corporate elite

Business · Economics · Elite · Market economy · Order (exchange · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Public economics · Small business · State (computer science · Tax avoidance · Tax reform · Corporate Taxation and Avoidance · Finance · Law · Taxation and Compliance Studies

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