Shannan Nelson and Rob Boyer are running against each other in the GOP primary for the 38th District seat in the Kansas House.

They’re both 33 years old, and both say they’re pro-business.

That’s about all they agree on.

Nelson says he’s definitely a conservative; Boyer says he takes pride in being a moderate.

Boyer said he’d reluctantly vote to raise taxes because there was no way the state could trim hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget without hurting education.

Nelson says that’s hard to believe.

In fact, he’s all for opening next year’s legislative session with a call for cutting $350 million from the state general fund. He’d pull the plug on plans to build a $15 million parking garage beneath the Statehouse grounds and two-block-long tunnels connecting the Statehouse with the new Department of Transportation offices.

He’d sell the $4.1 million jet that Gov. Bill Graves bought last year.

And then he’d launch an economic development campaign that would bring in new businesses and, in turn, create growth and broaden the state’s tax base.

“We need to increase our revenue and quit overburdening the base we already have,” he said. “I’m 100 percent opposed to a tax increase.”

Boyer said Nelson’s plan made for “terrific politics he’s telling people exactly what they want to hear.” But, he added, it’s also unrealistic.

“Right now, 85 percent of the state general fund goes for education K through 12 and the universities and services for senior citizens,” Boyer said. “I don’t see how anybody can talk about cutting $350 million out of the budget and think they’re not going to cut education.

“Business doesn’t want that,” he said.

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Boyer owns and operates Shred-It paper shredding and recycling franchises in Kansas, Missouri, Utah and Idaho.

Nelson is financial officer at Olson Manufacturing, a plastics company in Shawnee. He has a master’s degree in business administration from Mid America Nazarene University in Olathe.

Boyer said he would vote to expand gambling to bring in more money.

“Look, people are already gambling they’re going to the boats in Missouri and to the Indian casinos,” he said. “There ought to be a way for some of this revenue to go to the state (of Kansas).”

Nelson’s against more gambling. He says it’s an unfair tax on the poor.

Nelson said he was ardently opposed to abortion. He’s been endorsed by Kansans for Life, the state’s anti-abortion lobby.

Boyer said he was pro-choice “but only because in cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother, I think those decisions ought to be made by the family not a legislator, not the government.”

Nelson said he was a “strong believer” in citizens’ right to bear arms. Boyer said he was not opposed to people owning guns, but he’s against concealed-carry laws.