HUMBOLDT — Representative of the 12th district, Sen. Caryn Tyson, weighed in on taxes and educational funding Monday at the USD 258 Board of Education meeting.
By a vote of 37 to 3, both Democrats and Republicans voted against Senate Bill 214 last week, which would have made Kansas the ninth state with a single income tax rate regardless of earnings level. Although critics of the bill said that it would hurt low-income people most, Tyson refuted the claim.
“The committee had increased the standard deduction to $6,300 for single, $12,600 married filing jointly and $9,300 head of household,” Tyson said. “That is more than double what the current standard deductions are. We made it equal to what the federal standard deductions were.”
The bill’s plan called for an increase in state revenue of $295 million the first year and $1.6 billion over a five-year period, falling short of what is needed. In the next two years alone the state faces a $1.1 billion deficit.
Tyson, who is the chairman of the Tax Committee, admitted the bill was not perfect, adding, “As soon as the governor came out and said he supported it everyone fell off the bill whether they supported it or not,” she said.
Tyson said she does not know what legislators are looking for.
“There is a push to do away with the ‘LLC loophole,’ which allows companies to pay no income taxes,” she said.
“The problem is you are not going to get a flat tax in Kansas, anyway at this time, because people still want their deductions,” she said. “They want their standard deductions, they want their itemized deductions and if we do put it back on the business it has to be so that the businesses are allowed to take their losses.”
Critics of the flat tax say its 3.9 percent rate on all earners would allow Kansans earning more than $530,000 a year a tax cut, while Kansans making $24,000 or less would see a tax increase.
Tyson said she believes the Kansas tax code needs to be put back on solid footing.
Since 2011, state revenues have increased, except during 2014, but spending has also continued to increase, according to Tyson. Increased spending is a major issue, she said.
“We have actually collected three-tenths of a percent more in the last three years, it’s not much but it’s still an increase, and that’s not what’s being reported and what’s being told,” she said. “The problem is that the spending is much greater than that.”
Budgets are determined according to estimated revenue rather than based on revenue that was generated the previous year.
“It’s just not good business, it’s not good common sense,” she said.
TYSON said she is also concerned about the attitude among legislators that farming and ranching are not businesses.
“Right now our big divide in Topeka is not Democrat versus Republican,” she said. “It’s rural versus urban.”
The month of May is critical because by order of the Kansas Supreme Court legislators must devise a new school funding formula.
Tyson said she believes that because Larry Campbell, chairman of the school finance committee, is from Johnson County, new policy will not weigh in favor of rural counties.
“He is a legislator that thinks that they (urban counties) are paying for the rest of the state,” she said. She has also heard other legislators say they believe that rural Kansas counties do not do anything for the state.
“There is a big disconnect between the rural and the urban,” she said.
Brownback’s remedy to the state’s budget hole includes tapping a $362 million long-term investment fund and paying it back over seven years, reducing payments into the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System by $85.9 million for the year and reducing an extraordinary needs fund for public schools by $13 million, according to Bryan Lowry of the Kansas Center for Economic Growth.
Tyson said she is looking into another option to the troubled KPERS system. Instead of the state contributing to public employees’ pension program, she believes that employees should be given the “opportunity” to invest in the federal self-directed Thrift Savings Plan, TSP.
“It has made more millionaires than any other retirement system in the nation,” she said.
“I think we should start looking at other solutions and other options before we are to a point that we can’t sustain anymore.”
Tyson said she is also not happy that the Senate voted 27 to 11 in favor of the measure that would give convenience and grocery stores the right to sell beer with an alcohol volume of 6.0. The bill now goes to Governor Sam Brownback for approval and if he signs it, the law will go into effect April 1, 2019.
“In 10 years they will be selling liquor,” she said.
Tyson said she believes more work needs to be done on the statute. Clerks in grocery stores will have to be 18 years old to sell beer, while clerks in liquor stores will have to be 21 years old and be required to pass a background check, she said.
“We have a double standard going on.”
Rep. Kent Thompson will be the guest speaker 7 p.m. on May 8 at the USD 258 Board of Education meeting.
Photo Credit: Shellie Smitley
cutline:Representative of the 12th district, Sen. Caryn Tyson, weighed in on taxes and school funding Monday at the USD 258 Board of Education meeting.
