Eliminating taxes on new investments in machinery and business equipment is giving Kansas business owners and operators newfound optimism about the direction of the Kansas economy, according to a new poll.

Fifty-five percent of respondents to the survey say that the Kansas economy is headed in the right direction, up significantly from a year earlier.

But “excessive taxation” still tops the list of “most important issues facing Kansas,” according to the poll of 300 businesses conducted for the Kansas Chamber by Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates, an Oklahoma-based polling firm.

The issue has topped the list of concerns each of the four years that the firm has conducted the survey. In the latest survey, the percentage of respondents naming the issue as a concern – 31 percent – was up from 22 percent a year earlier.

Concerns about taxes are highest among companies in construction, manufacturing and retail sectors, according to the survey. A full 60 percent of respondents say they pay too much in taxes to state and local governments.