During an interview with Rep. Kent Thompson Sunday afternoon he asked on several occasions to speak “off the record,” meaning he did not want to be quoted for the article. THE INCREASED sales tax is with us as long as Brownback is in office, Thompson contended. And while it will help stabilize the budget, it comes on the backs of those least able to afford the additional tax — the lower and middle classes.
That puts a reporter in a tough position, because the comments are typically pretty juicy, making for good copy.
Thompson’s choice remarks didn’t necessarily shed any light on how politics work in Topeka, but rather confirmed how adverse ultra-conservatives are to coming to the cause of the greater good.
In the rush to march income taxes to ground zero, they have bankrupt the state. Kansas today has $1 billion less revenue because of the tax cuts.
And because Gov. Sam Brownback is so beholden to big money, specifically that by Charles and David Koch, the backers of Americans for Prosperity, he refuses to veer from the path to eliminate the state income tax.
In 2014 alone, Koch-backed political action committees spent more than $100 million in campaigns across the country, and have been Brownback’s most ardent supporters in his life as a politician.
Probably the most worrisome of Thompson’s on-record remarks was that Brownback would have relished the opportunity to enact across-the-board budget cuts of 6.2 percent and be able to say it was an ineffective legislature that forced him to do it.
As reported earlier, a cut of that magnitude would affect Iola schools by more than $630,000.
It’s unconscionable our governor would actually take delight in crippling the very foundations of our state.
This session a cadre of legislators worked to pass a bill that would tax the income of state businesses and farmers by a mere 2.7 percent. If it had passed, the governor promised to veto the prudent measure.
To override the governor’s veto requires a two-thirds majority of the legislature. And while that’s nigh impossible with today’s legislative makeup is it too much to hope for that the 2016 elections could shake up the mix?
Straight out, the status quo is failing Kansas. But in 2016, both House and Senate seats are up for grabs and provide a real opportunity for change.
Today is the time for those who truly hold the best interests of Kansas at heart to step forward and work for a different outcome.
A better tomorrow depends on change starting today.
— Susan Lynn
The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad legislative session
