Ed Bideau, elected 9th District representative in November, is eager to join the debate on whether Kansas should retain the one-cent increase of the sales tax, which pushed it to 6.3 percent on July 1, 2010. BIDEAU POINTED out that for the first time in history a consortium of representatives and senators from the state’s four most-populous counties have the numbers to control each house of the Legislature.
It is scheduled to reduce to 5.7 percent on July 1, 2013. The retained .4 percent will go to highways.
The increase was voted by the Legislature when state revenue failed to meet expectations, particularly for school funding.
There is some question whether the decrease will occur, rather stay in place to enhance revenue when Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed income tax reduction comes about next year.
Bideau said he doesn’t favor keeping the sales tax at the higher rate to make up for lost income because of the reduction in income taxes. Projections are that if the income tax cuts occur as they stand now, the state will lose more than $200 million in revenue in the next two years, Bideau said.
A sales tax is regressive in nature, Bideau said, because the poor and rich alike pay the same for purchases, making it more of a burden for low-income families. Bideau’s district of Allen and Neosho counties has a high rate of poverty.
Meanwhile, “I’ve been told there are flaws in the income tax law” that proposes lower rates, Bideau said. “At the very minimum we’re probably going to have to clean it up.”
“Brownback said he would hold school funding harmless, but I’m concerned,” said Bideau, whose wife is a fourth-grade teacher in Chanute. “What’s harmless for Johnson County may not be good for schools in smaller counties,” such as Allen and Neosho.
BIDEAU served in the Kansas House 1984-88 and returns to duty Jan. 14.
His committee assignments are Judiciary, Health and Healing and Vision 2020.
“My first reaction was Vision 2020 sounded interesting, but I wondered if it would do anything.”
His charge is to decide what the state should look like in 2020 and then develop plans for “how to get there,” Bideau said. “It involves power, water, health programs and economics, all that we need to decide for the long haul.”
Bideau said he also “is enthused about the health and healing assignment,” after its chairman told him work would include putting together oversight for KanCare.
KanCare is private management of programs for Medicaid recipients in Kansas, including Tri-Valley Development Services.
With Bideau being an attorney, service on the Judiciary Committee is a good fit.
In answer to the rural-urban division, he said a rural caucus had formed in efforts to ensure their interests are heard.
He also would like to see a group formed to work for improvements to U.S. 169, which runs from Kansas City to Tulsa and squarely through the 9th District.
“U.S. 69 — which runs from Kansas City south through Fort Scott and Pittsburg — has a well-organized support group that’s intent on getting improvements,” he said.
Bideau said he spent considerable time prior to the general election meeting with governing bodies throughout his district, as well as citizens, and that he would encourage input from constituents.
“It’s going to take me a little while to adjust — the last time I was in the Legislature we had typewriters and carbon paper — but I will,” he said.
Taxes on Bideau’s radar
