When news is released on a Friday afternoon, you know it’s not good.
Journalists refer to it as the Friday “news dump.” Bad news that politicians hope will get buried as people get out and tune out to enjoy the weekend.
That could have been the case this most recent Friday, if Shawn Sullivan, Kansas’s budget director, could have found some way to sugar-coat the bomb he dropped.
His news? The state’s bank balance is “basically at zero,” and in need of $159 million in “adjustments.” That’s how much state revenue expectations have dropped since July. And, if you remember, that estimate was dropped from April’s.
THE FIRST target, of course, is the Department of Transportation, for a $48 million “transfer.” They’ll never see that money again.
And when legislators convene in January, their first order of business will be to eliminate $14 million in programs and services.
The other $100 million or so will come from taking money from what the governor deems as flexible. Such as $9 million from the Children’s Initiative Fund, which supports programs such as Head Start.
If Kansas would just fit Gov. Brownback’s model, we wouldn’t need programs like that anyway.
Month after month, and year and after year now, Kansas is not living up to the governor’s expectations.
We’re sorry, gov.
But when you raise the state sales tax to the second highest in the nation, that makes it hard to buy groceries, and shoes, much less any big-ticket items like appliances or a car.
And this idea of giving the super wealthy super tax cuts — which was really generous of you — isn’t working.
Does that make you mad?
You go easy on these big cheeses and what do you get in return? Crumbs.
Which is exactly why income taxes do work. The more you make, the more you’re taxed, and that’s what keeps schools open, police forces staffed, and roads passable.
In Kansas, however, things are screeching to a halt.
Now whose turn is it to say they’re sorry?
— Susan Lynn
