“Collateral damage” is a term simultaneously freighted with emotion and devoid of it. Coined during the Vietnam War and often applied to recent conflicts, from Kosovo to Syria, “collateral damage” is a commonplace euphemism that deadens us to the war-time carnage of innocent victims, even as their numbers mount into the millions.

So, to consider the impact of various Kansas policies as “collateral damage” may seem over the top. I disagree.

Sam Brownback and the Legislature seeking to place the state’s income tax rates on a “glide-path to zero,” these tax receipts fell from $2,931 million in 2013 to just $2,218 in 2014 and $2,277 million in 2015.

Despite cheery reassurances from the Brownback administration, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, and the Kansas Policy Institute, this precipitous revenue drop – in the face of increasing needs – means that many Kansans have suffered actual harm. And the collateral damage will only increase as the state becomes less capable of funding essential services.

After the state received $25 million in rebates from the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program and a Medicaid prescription drug program, budget director Sean Sullivan was asked whether these funds might reduce lengthy waiting lists. He replied, “When you have savings, you can either choose to use that for the state general fund or you can re-appropriate to something else….In our case we’re helping with the state general fund shortfall.”

The needy, untreated individuals thus represent collateral damage of the state’s disastrous budget situation. The glide path to zero, which has enriched many wealthy Kansans, continues to take a toll on faceless individuals, waiting for months to get adequate care.

In the same vein, searching high and low for cash, the Brownback administration recently “swept” $9 million in Children’s Initiatives Fund grants into the general fund, affecting both current and future programs. That’s simple theft.

Collateral damage is sometimes subtle. When Kansas universities recruit top-flight researchers or candidates for major administrative positions, one of their first questions is whether the state is truly committed to providing high-quality education, for both K-12 and higher ed. Indeed, many potential candidates simply write Kansas off as a state that has demonstrated its willingness to sacrifice education at the altar of lower taxes.

Nor is injury limited to individuals. The Kansas highway fund has been raided as never before over the past few years, all in the service of filling budget holes, as opposed to potholes. Although many governors have used the “Bank of KDOT” to an extent, the level and cynicism of the current exploitation is breath-taking. First, the state borrows hundreds of millions to pay for a ten-year transportation plan. Then, since the 2010 inception of the plan, the state sweeps $1.4 billion into the state general fund, leaving nothing for new projects and very little for crucial maintenance.

The collateral damage victims here are legion: (1) the highways and all those who ultimately drive on them over the years to come; (2) the state’s credit rating, which has steadily declined as funds are shifted away from their intended purpose; (3) tens of thousands of construction workers, who will lose their jobs as projects and maintenance dry up; and finally, (4) the rule of law in Kansas. The state constitution prohibits deficits, but by moving huge piles of borrowed funds, intended to pay for a long-term transportation plan, into the current accounts budget, Governor Brownback and his allies have violated the spirit, if not the technical meaning, of our balanced budget requirement.

In the end, the sharp reduction in income-tax revenues has failed to produce explosive growth. Rather, these cuts have inflicted collateral damage on almost all Kansans in myriad and increasing ways.

Burdett Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.