The Lawrence Journal-World
KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- This year's Kansas Economic Policy Conference will take an in-depth look at how the restructuring of the Kansas tax code has played out throughout the state.
Titled "The Kansas Fiscal Experiment - Impacts on Communities," the conference will take place Thursday at the Kansas Union. Attending will be economists, policy analysts, community leaders, city and county managers and education officials.
The conference's keynote speakers include: Carolyn Bourdeaux, an associate professor of public policy at Georgia State University; Chris W. Courtwright, chief economist for the Kansas Legislature; and Justin Ross, assistant professor of public and environmental affairs at Indiana University.
Speeches and panel discussions will focus on how changes to Kansas' tax code in 2012, which lowered state income tax rates and decreased from three to two the number of income tax brackets, have affected Kansas communities.
Proponents of the tax changes said they would attract business to the state while critics voiced worry that the tax shakeup would disproportionately hurt the poor and reduce funding for education and state services.
Registration is $45. For more information visit http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/conferen/kepc13/.
