Let’s review what just happened: The Legislature sent Gov. Sam Brownback a tax reform bill that would have generated $590 million per year — revenue the state desperately needs to repair the structural hole in its budget. When House Bill 2178 arrived on the governor’s desk, he vetoed it. Brownback says he wants to develop a "different plan that fixes our budget," but we already know what that plan will look like: a jumble of temporary (see: unsustainable) infusions of cash and neglected obligations.

After the Kansas House voted to override the veto on Wednesday, it was up to the Senate to move the state back toward fiscal sanity. But the votes just weren’t there.

Brownback says his budget proposal "does not target Kansas families or the working class, but still achieves structural balance." This isn’t true. Under Brownback’s plan, huge amounts of one-time money will be snatched from KDOT (almost $300 million in both 2018 and 2019) and the Unclaimed Property Fund; future payments from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement will be securitized (which means millions of dollars will be forfeited); a $75 million payment to Kansas public schools will be delayed; a $317 million long-term investment portfolio run by KPERS will be sold; and state pension contributions will be frozen at $300 million per year.

How many times is Kansas going to do this? How many reserves will we deplete? How many loans will we take out? Contrary to Brownback’s disingenuous assertion, nothing listed above "achieves structural balance" — it all does the exact opposite. KDOT isn’t a credit card with an unlimited ceiling. School funding can’t be put off indefinitely. When Kansas drains the Unclaimed Property Fund or borrows from KPERS, it’s only collecting liabilities — the day will soon come when these liabilities will have to be paid back with interest.

If Kansas sells future payments from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, a recurring source of income is gone forever. If Kansas freezes pension contributions, the unfunded liability will increase by $6.5 billion. Kansas has one of the lowest credit ratings of any state in the country, and tampering with pension payments will make it even worse. When the Brownback administration borrowed $100 million from KPERS last spring, this was done with the assurance that the money would be paid back with 8 percent interest by June 2018. It’s a virtual certainty that this won’t happen, and the state obligation is now $115 million.

In Brownback’s self-exculpatory statement about the veto, he calls HB 2178 an "assault on the pocketbooks of the middle class." Here are a few other assaults on the middle class: the huge sales tax increase Brownback signed in 2015; state higher education funding that hasn’t kept pace with inflation or massive increases in tuition; a proposal to increase the hospital provider tax from 1.8 percent to 4.6 percent (which will transfer costs onto patients); alcohol and tobacco taxes that will only drive businesses across state lines; a sweeping tax exemption for business owners, but not their employees; the failure to expand Medicaid; and a long list of marrow-deep cuts to essential state services.

Brownback looks at the wreckage of his 2012 tax cuts and sees a mighty success for the people of Kansas. We see a fiscal calamity that Kansans just can’t escape. Wednesday was a sad day for our state, and we have our governor to blame.

Members of The Capital-Journal’s editorial advisory board are Zach Ahrens, Matt Johnson, Ray Beers Jr., Laura Burton, Garry Cushinberry, Mike Hall, Jessica Hosman, Jessica Lucas, Veronica Padilla and John Stauffer.