Kansas Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon continued to press her case last week that the state has given up enough revenue in tax cuts and exemptions for now — nearly $10 billion since 1993. She advocates banning new sales-tax exemptions and rescinding some existing ones, likening a tax break to a state handout. “Ask some hard questions instead of saying. ‘Oh, they sound like a nice organization,’” she said at a discussion in Topeka. “Enough is enough; we can’t do any more of these. We need to stop. We’re just simply forcing that property tax higher and higher.”
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45 Comments
Reminds me, are sales of newspapers exempt from sales taxes? Seems to be confusion on this in the stores.
And some states exempt groceries from sales taxes to make the sales tax less regressive. Should Kansas do this?
“JWink” –
California doesn’t collect sales tax on food. I’m not saying California is the epitome of fiscal responsibility but I was surprised to be taxed on groceries when I returned to Kansas.
Seems like the most regressive tax possible on the poor.
Republicans in the legislature have tried for years to exempt sales tax on food. It is the right thing to do. They were successfull in cutting car taxes in half and reducing property taxes as well. Car and property taxes are the two largest cuts made in recent years.
Is Wagnon saying those should be reversed?
Another Taxocrat who never met a Tax she didn’t like.
North Carolina had given Dell something like 300 million dollars to locate a plant there–in direct investment, low cost loans, and tax breaks.
Dell was there about three years before it off-shored the whole deal.
Sayonara, suckers.
The study that Joan Wagnon keeps pushing is bunk.
http://www.kansasliberty.com/liberty-update-archive/2009/26oct/State-revenue-reports-used-as-weapon-in-clash-over-tax-hikes/
I do, however agree that we should eliminate a bunch of exemptions. That way we could all benefit from lower taxes instead of a government chosen few.
There’d be no shortfall in revenue if not for all the favored giveaways!
When there’s nothing left to cut without damaging society, you’ve gone too far with the tax revenue cuts.
situveux1
Posted November 23, 2009 at 9:41 am | Permalink
The study that Joan Wagnon keeps pushing is bunk
________________________________________________
Look who is calling the study “bunk”!
“But Dave Trabert, president of the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy, strongly disputed the numbers and methods used in the analysis to calculate property tax losses.”
The Koch Bros. WANT the tax breaks to continue.
Go figure.
Republicans in the legislature have tried for years to exempt sales tax on food. It is the right thing to do.??? Then why hasn’t it happened Republicans have had super majorities in both houses for decades?
TomPaine
Posted November 23, 2009 at 11:40 am | Permalink
Republicans in the legislature have tried for years to exempt sales tax on food. It is the right thing to do.??? Then why hasn’t it happened
=====================================
They don’t want to lose money.
But Tom, the Republicans can’t hold hands and get along. The CONS seem to hate the MODS (RINO’s) more than they hate the Democrats. For this reason, the Dems have the largest unified House caucus in Topeka.
“Where has Kansas’ money gone?”
“The Kansas state budget cannot sustain any more cuts,” she said. “There just simply is no more meat on the bone to cut.”
- Joan Wagnon, KS Sec. of Revenue
The obvious questions are:
Since when was it Kansas’ money?
Why listen to the Sec. of Revenue with regards to budget cuts?
Her base logic is that the money belongs to Kansas and the state just needs to go out and get it. I’m not impressed.
ProudMan
Posted November 23, 2009 at 2:30 pm | Permalink
“Where has Kansas’ money gone?”
“The Kansas state budget cannot sustain any more cuts,” she said. “There just simply is no more meat on the bone to cut.”
- Joan Wagnon, KS Sec. of Revenue
The obvious questions are:
Since when was it Kansas’ money?
Why listen to the Sec. of Revenue with regards to budget cuts?
Her base logic is that the money belongs to Kansas and the state just needs to go out and get it. I’m not impressed.
_______________________________
Proudman, you need to get it through your head that the Legislature has some Constitional Obligations it must provide for. THOSE obligations make those collected revenues “Kansas’ money”.
B_D69,
It’s only Kansas’ money after the state takes it through taxation. That has nothing to do with the obligations. Revenue and spending are different things.
The Sec. of Revenue is lamenting about money the state decided not to take. She is saying that, “they have my money since I decided not to take it from them”. Sounds more like a mobster running a protection racket than a responsible public official.
Proudman, you’re quibbling over semantics.
The state has obligations and must raise revenue via taxation to meet them.
Stop b****** about the taxes you pay, it takes money to fund services. It’s obvious that “bidness” doesn’t give a ratsarse about people. THAT is the responsibility of governmental entities.
B_D69,
The most prolific killer, enslaver, and all around bad-news people have always been governments. Too look to the government to care about society is laughable.
ProudMan–
Really?
Tell it to the 200 African-American LYNCHED every year by hate groups in the South between 1900 and 1940.
Tell it to the Chinese who refused to allow traders to peddle opium up the Pearl River in Canton and faced the cannon and the sword because of it.
Tell it to the American Indians who were massacred by European settlers by the thousands in violation of their own government’s law.
Right now, the most prolific killer of Americans every year is the automobile.
200 people over 41 years is 8,200 total.
Now compare that with the 100,000,000 people killed by communism in the 20th century.
When people choose to kill, it is the government that is the most able and willing throughout history to get that job done.
To look for government to be some kind of benevolent provider when it’s only tool is force can only exist in the mind of a child.
capn is obviously fact challenged, as he proves one more time by stating:
“the most prolific killer of Americans every year is the automobile”.
Interesting unsupported and incorrect assertion. According to the CDC in 2006 (last year available):
•Heart disease: 631,636
•Cancer: 559,888
•Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
•Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
•Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
•Diabetes: 72,449
•Alzheimer’s disease: 72,432
•Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
•Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
•Septicemia: 34,234
the above from CDC lists all accidents together. To separate out vehicle (including car, bus, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, motorhome and bus) according to NHTSA in 2008, the total was 37,261, which is a long ways from over 600,000 killed by heart disease.
If we just separate out the ‘prolific killer’ according to capn, the total killed in 2008 was 26,689. Not even 1/10th the total.
once again, capn proves he has no clue what he is spouting off about with his incorrect assertions that are supposed to be take at face value.
Blaidd_Drwg69:
Is anyone else out there tired of anonymous, unfounded accusations such as made byBlaidd_Drwg69?
It’s not possible to touch on all of the misleading aspects of Sec. Wagnon’s comments but I will be happy to do so with anyone interested. Call me at 634-0218. I will also e-mail you her spreadsheet, which shows that most things on the list were enacted over 10 years ago and they are simply adding 2-4% per year since to estimate the current impact. DOR admits there’s no offset for new revenues generated because of some of the changes or for revenues that would have been lost if these changes weren’t made.
Are some tax credits and exemptions bad? You bet…especially those that only help select groups of people or certain industries. Lowering the tax burden on ALL taxpayers is the way to go. Government shouldn’t be picking winners and losers.
FYI, those ‘bad’ tax exemptions that some want to blame for our budget crisis include large amounts for single income rate reductions, earned income tax credit, food sales tax rebate, increased personal exemption, homestead program expansion, social security exemption, car taxes and residential property taxes (which, by the way, STILL increased 130% over the last 11 years). The list goes on and on.
Gee, anyone care to guess why these details weren’t pointed out? Better yet, ask Sec. Wagnon if she things these taxes should be raised or restored.
State General Fund tax receipts increased 40% from FY 2001 to FY 2008. At the same time business tax receipts increased 83%. We’re not in this mess because our revenues were too low…it’s because we spent a great deal more than we took in. Two years ago Kansas had a $935 million surplus. Imagine how differently things would be today if we had just spent what we took in.
Dave Trabert
Kansas Policy Institute
Well well, it’s the Koch Bros. lapdog out roaming the Blogs looking for someone to listen to his master’s distortions of the truth.
Mr. Trabert, I’m obviously NOT the only person who sees things a bit differently than you in this state.
We can go into the “bidness” tax breaks later.
Feast your eyes and begin your SPIN:
By JULIE MENGHINI
Special to The Morning Sun
Posted Nov 21, 2009 @ 11:47 PM
PITTSBURG — Ed’s note: Thursday we ran an editorial about school funding. Noted was a proposal by Rep. Julie Menghini to repeal sales tax exemptions. While other lawmakers have suggested exemptions be cut for businesses, Menghini’s is different. Her explanation is below. We apologize for the error.
As revenues fall in Kansas, elected officials must make some tough decisions to balance the state budget. The Kansas Legislature has made significant cuts to all areas of the state budget, and the governor is planning on further cuts in the form of allotments to bring this year’s budget into balance. If you have to cut spending, you should also cut tax expenditures, such as tax exemptions and credits. They are spending items, just like an appropriation.
As a five year member on House Taxation, and the current ranking minority, I have watched the continued abuse of sales tax exemptions from year to year. Think of them as an “earmark” of sorts for state legislators. We all want to help out organizations in our districts. Unfortunately, we have given away so many, that we have reduced our sales tax base considerably over the past 15 years.
So, the KACIR (Kansas Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations), recommends the repeal of a group of sales tax exemptions totaling $207.84 million in FY 2011. They are not business exemptions.
Here is some of the reasoning behind repealing some of these exemptions.
Where the budget is concerned, the government has obligations that are constitutional, statutory and societal/moral. With that in mind, we are obligated to fund education at all levels. We are obligated to provide necessary infrastructure, services for the elderly, disabled and desperately poor and we are obligated to keep our communities safe.
We are not obligated to subsidize civic, charitable and/or religious organizations. They may all do great service in their communities, but it is not (and should not be) the government’s role to subsidize them. We simply cannot afford to be so generous any longer. In addition, these organizations and their members use state funded services and infrastructure. They should help carry some of the burden by paying sales tax.
Over the past 12 years, the cumulative total of tax exemptions, tax credits and tax cuts has reduced state revenues by over 10 Billion dollars. Those dollars would adequately fund k-12, higher education, social services, corrections AND a new CTP.
The repeal of these 200 million dollars also sends an additional $50 million to local governments.
Sales tax exemptions should be the “exception” not the “rule”. However, currently sales tax exemptions are the “rule.” As I stated earlier, we have continued to narrow our tax base so that fewer and fewer people are paying more and more.
It is time to put a stop to this irresponsible spending in the form of sales tax exemptions. It is time to restore our sales tax base. It is time to appropriately fund our priorities. It is time for political courage.
Dave–
Your name doesn’t appear in a search of the Kansas Policy Institute’s website.
http://search.ku.edu/search?q=%22Dave+Trabert%22&btnG=Search&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&filter=0&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=kutemplate&entqr=0&ud=1&site=pri
Also a reverse lookup of your phone number links you not to KU’s Kansas Policy Institute, but to the Koch funded Flint Hills Institute of Public Policy.
Correction: Flint Hills Center for Public Policy
Apparently, they find it advantageous to keep changing their name.
Which one of the Koch brothers actually signs your check?
And when you meet with him, do you call him “Your Exalted One” or simply “Masser”?
hey capn…while you are researching, care to provide some backup of your lie about the automobile being the “most prolific killer of Americans”?
Or…are you once again childishly pretending you can’t see my posts, using your mysterious and phony “ignore”
what a phony.
Capn
The Flint Hills Policy group has changed their name to become the Kansas Policy Institute. The Koch Bros. seem to think the stench would be lost if they changed the name.
If it stinks like a skunk, has a white stripe down the middle of its black back………………
I guess we should listen to the lapdog of the Koch Bros. ’cause big bidness ALWAYS looks out for the best interests of the everyday Joe!
Wow, check out the board of trustees!
http://www.flinthills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=36
You can be any color as long as it’s white.
You can be any gender as long as it’s male.
You can live anywhere you want as long as it’s not in the FLINT HILLS! hahahaha
Yeah, Raptor, I was wrong about that.
Heart disease and cancer are way ahead of it.
I think that automobile deaths are the leading cause of accidental deaths, that’s what I was thinking of.
Good catch, “CapnAmerica!” –
“…a reverse lookup of your phone number links you not to KU’s Kansas Policy Institute, but to the Koch funded Flint Hills Institute of Public Policy.”
From the Pox Noise Channel claiming to be “Shocked! SHOCKED!!” about obvious distortions of their news reports to the Kochs financing outright lies and distortions, CONs can only win by lying.
Wow, Blaidd, that’s the fourth name change for this organization since they were founded in ‘96.
Maybe it keeps creditors off their trail . . .
Also, two of the six “trustees” are also officers.
Boy, talk about just voting yourself a pay raise.
These guys are literally their own bosses!
Dave?
Dave?
It got so quiet all of a sudden . . . .
than you for that capn…in one age group, you are correct. from NHTSA:
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young people 15 to 20 years of age, causing roughly one-third of all fatalities in this age group.
these tragedies are the ones that get the headlines much more so than heart attacks. Unfortunately, with continued budget cuts, driver’s ed will also wind up being cut even more, with predictable results….more young drivers/passengers dying needlessly.
Where is “Dave Trabert of the Kansas Policy Institute?” –
Where are all the CONs to defend his blatant misrepresentation?
What a bunch of Koch-suckers.
Good fact checking, Raptor.
You should take on Palin’s new book, hehe.
MHawk!
Koch suckers . . . ROFLOL. . . damn, no wonder you’re a professional.
Dave isn’t used to people that argue back.
He’s used to people who tear up and say “preach it, brother, preach it!” and “amen, Brother Dave!”
The high priests of the Church of the Holy Marketplace allow no god to be set before their god, Mammon.
They got the money, but damn, we’ve got the snark.
Just like Woody Gutherie in the Dust Bowl.
They can’t take that away from us.
“Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land
He’s a hard-working man and was brave.
He said to the rich, “give your money to the poor.”
But they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
“When Jesus Christ came to town all the working folks gathered round
Believed what he did say.
But the bankers and the preachers, they nailed Him to the cross.
And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.”
CapnAmerica
Posted November 23, 2009 at 6:33 pm | Permalink
Dave?
Dave?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dave’s not here, man.
Spit take!
Cheech and Chong . . . classic routine, man.
Gentlemen,
Please don’t misinterpet my absence as anything but not having much time to post replies to your individual comments. I mean no disrespect, but every single comment about our name change, who funds us, etc. are WAY off base. If any of you are really interested in the facts, my offer to discuss them with you personally remains open. I would also be quite willing to meet with you as a group in public and answer all of your questions. The Eagle and other media are welcome to attend. You name the time and place and we’ll have a professional discussion of the facts.
Sorry for any difficulty in getting in touch with me…full contact info follows.
Dave Trabert
President
Kansas Policy Institute
250 N. Water, Suite 216
Wichita, KS 67202
316-634-0218
dave.trabert@flinthills.org
Lapdog trabert, I know all I want to know about you, your “think tank” and the Koch Bros. funding you. How did you recruit Walt Chappell into your ranks anyway? You’d better get your checkbook out to back him in the next election ’cause no group who backed him in ‘08 will do so again. Heck, he may not even make it to re-election if the the recall initiative is successful.
Maybe you and Walt can share an office.