"Is this policy creating the result we wanted it to?" Ball asked. "I think views on the success or failure of this largely depends on who you’re talking with and what their core political philosophy is. That colors perceptions, and that’s unfortunate," Ball said.
The prospects for any change in the policy will be heavily influenced by election year politics. Kansas lawmakers will face voters in November, and Hutton -- who favors repealing the small-business break and removing the state sales tax from food purchases -- said he sees no political appetite for revisiting taxes before then.
"Quite frankly, there’s still a lot of fatigue from last year and just talking about taxes will get you killed," Hutton said.
In the meantime, though, Brad Stratton has mixed feelings at best.
“The folks I employ are all paying a state income tax, and I’m not,” he said. “That’s not equitable.” As for job growth, he said, “the tax break wasn’t enough for me to hire anyone.”