By law, Kansas legislators must balance a budget for fiscal year 2016, which begins July 1, before they can adjourn. FOR TOO LONG, Kansans have fallen for the line that tax breaks for the wealthy will trickle down to benefit the masses. They don’t. Income tax breaks only work to make the wealthy, wealthier. And yet, that is our state’s economic model.
They are now one week past the scheduled 90-day session, which means Kansas taxpayers are paying an additional $43,000 for every additional day they meet. With no end in sight for a budget compromise, this could be a very costly session.
About 16 legislators have turned down the extended pay, $88.66 a day, a dozen of which have also said no to lodging and travel expenses also on the state’s nickel.
While that’s commendable, Kansans hope legislators are diligent in making ends meet; and avoid any hasty measures.
If voters had longer memories, this session’s intransigence might make a difference in the 2016 election, for it’s a specific bloc of lawmakers — ultra-conservatives — who are refusing to consider any means to raise revenue to meet a $406 million deficit.
Instead, they say, more cuts to schools, social services, roads, health care and fire and safety crews are needed.
“Kansas has a spending problem, not a tax problem,” is the mantra of Americans for Prosperity, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and other ultra-conservatives bent on further depleting resources.
Trouble is, too many legislators believe their chances for re-election are being held hostage by such groupthink.
Yes, they have deep pockets. What they don’t have is a conscience.
Most Americans are only two paychecks away from financial ruin.
The average savings account is $3,950; a full 25 percent of Americans have no savings at all, another 40 percent have no income set aside for retirement.
So what these people must deal with now, today, greatly impacts their tomorrows.
Increase the sales tax — a universal tax, regardless of income — and you’re creating increased hardship on those already marginalized. Raise the income tax, and you’re impacting the well-to-do.
This ideology to starve our schools, public services and programs to fit a made-up number is crazy.
Legislators, we beg you, support a budget that meets the needs of a people who want, nay need, to prosper. The alternative is truly dismal.
— Susan Lynn
Ultra-conservatives double-down on starving state services
