ALEC came to Kansas City! It’s fitting that they’ve chosen to hold their conference at the Kansas border since Senate President Susan Wagle and House Speaker Ray Merrick are both on the board, many legislators are members and Kansas Policy Institute president Dave Trabert is on the Tax and Fiscal Policy task force (the one that’s having an education subcommittee as we posted earlier). http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/01/4995778/conservative-alec-gathering-in.html...
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Response to tax cuts changes from business will increase revenue to we just need to cut more expenses
“Rep. Richard Carlson, chairman of the House tax committee, said he thinks the state needs to concentrate more on reducing spending. He said the state needs to let the private sector grow faster than government so it produces more money for government services. ‘We have the revenue. It’s an expenditure problem in the state,’ Carlson said. ‘If we reduced our expenditures, our bond rating would go up.’” Kansans beware. Education is the biggest single expenditure for the state. Other areas have already been cut as well. When the tax plan was implemented, we were told we didn’t need...
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Leave a Comment Moody’s downgrades Kansas, Masterson and Donovan not concerned
Ty Masterson’s not concerned, and Sen. Donovan implies they’ll just cut more spending. We’re very concerned. “Citing a sluggish recovery from the recession, risk inherent in the governor’s tax plan and uncertainty over the Legislature’s ability to keep cutting spending, one of the nation’s two major debt rating agencies downgraded Kansas’ credit rating Thursday. ‘The downgrade reflects Kansas’ relatively sluggish recovery compared with its peers, the use of non-recurring measures to balance the budget, revenue reductions resulting from tax cuts which have not been fully offset by recurring spending cuts, and an underfunded retirement system for which the...
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Leave a Comment Why is a task force led by a cigarette lobbyist forming an education subcommittee?
“ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy task force, headed by Altria/Phillip Morris’ Amanda Klum and New Hampshire State Rep. Ken Weyler, added a Joint Education Finance Working Group at this week’s meeting [May 1-2 in Kansas City]. Why is a tax task force led by a cigarette lobbyist forming an education subcommittee? Perhaps to advance tuition ‘tax credit’ policies to subsidize charter and religious schools, a scheme dubbed ‘neo-vouchers’ by critics. ‘With conventional vouchers, the state effectively bundles tax revenue and distributes it as vouchers. With neo-vouchers the taxpayer and the nonprofits play that role, while the state backfills...
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