S&P: Kansas Budget Issues 'Likely To Persist' After Tax Hike

A major financial rating agency says a structural imbalance in Kansas' budget is "likely to persist" even after the state increased income taxes. S&P Global Ratings said in a report this week that while the state boosted its revenues, it also increased spending for the next two years. S&P also said the state still is diverting money from highway projects to sustain other spending and is not fully funding contributions to public pensions. S&P did not change its negative credit outlook for Kansas. Legislators enacted the tax increase over Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's veto to raise $1.2 billion over two years. The new law rolls back past tax cuts Brownback championed. The S&P report came a month after Moody's Investors Service upgraded the state's credit outlook to stable from negative.