TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration expects tax revenue gains for the month of May, according to an email inadvertently sent Friday to the Lawrence Journal-World.

The email, from Chad Bettes, who is a high-ranking official in the Kansas Department of Revenue, to Sherriene Jones-Sontag, spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback, even includes a prepared comment from Kansas Secretary of Revenue Nick Jordan. The actual revenue numbers were to be filled in later Friday.

Earlier Friday, Jordan urged House Republicans to break an impasse during the current overtime legislative session and approve measures that increase the sales tax but lower income tax rates. He said lowering income taxes would stimulate the economy. While higher sales taxes hit the poor hardest, he said the state spends $3.5 billion a year on safety-net programs for low-income Kansans.

Here is the email from Bettes to Jones-Sontag. The subject heading said, “Please advise of changes and/or approval”:

Planning to send the numbers out between 4 and 4:30 p.m. —
State Tax Receipts Total $XX.X Million in May
TOPEKA – May tax receipts exceeded estimates by $XX million, or XX
percent, buoyed by one-time revenue attributed to taxpayers who
accelerated income in advance of federal tax increases enacted earlier
this year.
Individual income receipts were $XX million more than anticipated, or XX
percent, for the month. The increase over the estimate was due in part to
balance due payments for 2012 income taxes, which were processed in late
April and early May following the annual tax filing deadline.
“It is important to be cautious when looking at these numbers because
federal tax hikes proposed at the end of last year and passed in January
likely influenced taxpayer behavior as people worked to ensure that income
would be taxed at 2012 rates,” said Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan. “We
have reaped the benefit of that at the state level in April and May, and
now we expect things to return to more normal levels.”