Republican Gov. Sam Brownback argues that Kansas legislators shouldn’t tinker further with tax laws next year.

He says the state budget is in good shape despite a projected shortfall because his economic policies are working.
The governor spent much of a recent Associated Press interview throwing out statistics aimed at bolstering his argument that deep cuts in personal income taxes he championed in past years are boosting the economy. The state has struggled to balance its $15 billion budget since those reductions; it hiked sales and cigarette taxes earlier this year and still faces a projected deficit of about $160 million for the fiscal year that begins in July.

Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka says the state’s budget problems show that Brownback’s policies have failed.