The elephant in the room for Kansas legislators is not so much making ends meet for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, but figuring out next year’s budget, which faces a $600 million deficit. ACTUALLY, those are welcome words because so many legislators contend Kansas has only a “spending problem,” not a revenue problem.
“We’ll find the money somehow,” said Rep. Kent Thompson in a visit to the Register Monday afternoon.
As of 2013 state legislators construct two-year budgets with the thought it will allow for better planning. That would work better if slated funds were available. As it is, Gov. Brownback has had to make emergency cuts in education, transfer revenues from transportation and ask for tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol to balance out this fiscal year.
As for 2016, Thompson admitted he was “kinda surprised,” that midway through the legislative session legislators have not specifically addressed how they are to make ends meet.
Clearly, he said, the income tax cuts have not spurred enough new business or spending to sufficiently pad state coffers.
“So now it’s time to try something new,” Thompson said. “We all know we need more revenue.”
Thompson projects lots of “little” increases will be necessary to cobble together a budget. Besides tax increases for alcohol and cigarettes, Thompson hazarded a fuel tax might be in the mix. Current tax exemptions on farm machinery could be eyed as well as freezing the income tax reduction schedule legislators approved in 2013.
Thompson said he is uncomfortable with overhauling how schools are funded.
“I’m not so opposed with the current formula,” he said. “To work, it just needs to be funded.”
As for freezing current K-12 funding in what Gov. Brownback refers to as block grants, Thompson simply said, “Looks like a cut to me,” noting that an annual inflation rate of 3 to 5 percent must be factored in, not to mention the $23 million Gov. Brownback cut from K-12 last month.
Thompson’s biggest fear is that any changes will be to the disadvantage of poor and rural districts. Because the distribution of wealth in Kansas is so lopsided it creates resentment among legislators from wealthy districts who feel their constituents are unfairly taxed to ensure all Kansas children receive an adequate education.
Recent elections have worked to diminish the legislative power of rural districts. It all started with the purge of 2012 when nine longtime moderate Republican Senators, including Senate President Steve Morris of Hugoton, were defeated by ultra-conservatives who consider “tax” a four-letter word.
That aversion to taxes plays into the hands of legislators from wealthy metropolitan areas such as Johnson County whose substantial tax base can provide for lots of bells and whistles.
That’s fine for them, but what about the rest of us?
Therein, lies the debate.
— Susan Lynn
Fiscal year 2016 elephant in the room for Kansas legislators
