For Kansas GOP, Trump and his ‘beautiful’ bill parallel Brownback’s poisonous tax ‘experiment’

President Donald Trump holds up the "big, beautiful bill" that was signed into law as during a Fourth of July military family picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Brandon - Pool/Getty Images)

Within a year, Kansans will be voting to elect a new governor and fill a U.S. Senate seat, plus four congressional seats, among elections for other offices. Candidates are already announcing for office, and campaigns are getting underway.

Most Republican candidates are fawning at the feet of President Donald Trump. The groveling of these sycophants may be misplaced as Kansas voters recall the toxic remains of Gov. Sam Brownback’s infamous tax experiment, initiated in 2012 and abandoned in 2017 after five years of unfair taxes, deficit spending, and record debt.

Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” has followed a path that parallels Brownback’s tax experiment and may experience the same result. After six months in office, available evidence suggests that Trump and the bill may become political liabilities for the grovelers.

Take a look at the parallels.

Both Brownback and Trump chose partisanship rather than seeking common ground, and as a result, political liability falls entirely on Republicans. Democrats were shut out of decisions. Both partisan plans had to be forced through with brazen arm-twisting.

When Brownback’s tax bill stalled over disagreements between the legislative chambers, the governor double-crossed state Senate leadership and signed a flawed bill intended for negotiation. Brownback later stood aside as the Kansas Chamber of Commerce PAC effectively purged state senators of the governor’s party who opposed the policy.

Trump issued multiple threats of primary challenges targeted at resistant Republicans to bring them into line on the “big, beautiful bill.” One senator who balked fell victim to the pressure and announced he would not seek reelection.

Both Brownback’s tax experiment and Trump’s bill were Koch inspired. Brownback sought the advice of Arthur Laffer, a Koch-sponsored tax-cut guru, and shortly thereafter embraced “a real live experiment” to eliminate state income taxes. Koch and a handful of well-heeled donors underwrote a million-dollar campaign through the Chamber PAC to elect legislators willing to do their bidding. Their campaign succeeded.

Americans for Prosperity, a Koch political network, called early for Trump to renew and deepen tax cuts and launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to “turn up the heat” on Congress for quick passage.

Both Brownback’s tax experiment and Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” had common intent: Benefiting the wealthy while costing everyone else. Brownback’s experiment tilted the tax burden from rich to poor; it further exempted 330,000 businesses from the income tax and promised the eventual elimination of the tax.

Trump’s law gives households with incomes in the top 10% a break of $12,000 per year while those in the bottom 10% pay an additional $1,600, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. The top 1% are the prime beneficiaries.

Additionally, both Brownback and Trump coupled tax cuts for the rich with measures undermining aid to the needy. Brownback restricted eligibility for income support and food assistance and blocked the expansion of Medicaid.

The budget office estimates the “big, beautiful bill” will slash more than $1 trillion in spending from Medicaid and food assistance for the next 10 years, primarily by restricting eligibility for aid. Ten to 12 million will be cut from Medicaid, and those qualified for food assistance will fall as well.

Brownback’s experiment created red ink as far as the eye could see, and Trump’s plan will do the same. The Kansas Legislative Research Department projected soaring deficits from Brownback’s tax experiment, amounting to $2.5 billion in the first five years. Even after a sales tax increase, the depletion of state balances and the diversion of highway funds, the state faced a mid-year deficit of $300 million in 2017.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates Trump’s law will increase the deficit to $3.4 trillion over the next 10 years and add $4 trillion to the national debt when interest payments are taken into account.

Even so, the rhetoric of both Brownback and Trump soared: Brownback claimed his experiment would provide “a glide path to zero” for state income taxes. And further: “Look out Texas, here comes Kansas!” Trump declares the “big, beautiful bill” would “make this country into a rocket ship. It’s going to be really great. … We’ll have growth in record numbers.”

After five years of unbalanced budgeting, one-sided taxing, and unprecedented borrowing, Kansas voters had seen enough of Brownback’s experiment. The governor’s approval ratings steadily sank to the lowest in the nation among governors. In 2016, voters ousted Brownback’s legislative allies and elected a bipartisan legislative coalition that expeditiously abandoned the experiment and restored sanity to state finances.

In Trump’s first six months, his disapproval ratings have bumped up by 10 percentage points, well above comparable figures for Biden, Obama, and George W. Bush. Recent polling indicates 55% disapproval of the “big, beautiful bill,” compared with 29% approval.

In the upcoming election contests, Kansans will have the opportunity to query incumbents about their choices: shoddy partisan tactics over bipartisanship. Sponsorship by Koch. Support for taxes that benefit the rich and ditch the poor. Votes that swamped the state and nation in a sea of red ink.

We know what they did back in 2016. We’ll see what they decide in 2026.

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.