To the editor:

Jim Mullins (“Kansas needs taxpayer amendment,” Feb. 15) argues that Kansans need a Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) to limit runaway state spending. His argument rests on misleading evidence and fails to address a central question of any tax-cutting plan: What programs would be cut as revenues are limited? As Mullins notes, had a TABOR been enacted in 1992, state taxes today would be $1.1 billion lower.

In light of the difficulty state legislators are having meeting existing obligations, it is incumbent upon Mr. Mullins and other supporters of a TABOR to explain what programs they would cut to align spending with reduced revenues. I suspect they are unwilling to do so precisely because they know that once Kansans see the cost in lost services they would no longer support their plan to limit taxes.

Instead of making concrete suggestions, supporters of the TABOR prefer to cite misleading evidence of state spending running out of control. According to Mr. Mullins, state general-fund spending has increased about 3.5 times as fast as wages since 1972. Whatever the truth of this assertion, the fact remains that the tax burden on Kansans has actually declined slightly relative to income since 1970. Data collected by the State and Local Tax Foundation show that, in 2004, state and local taxes were equivalent to 9.9 cents on each dollar of income, down slightly from 10 cents per dollar in 1970. This is hardly evidence of “state spending spiral out of control.”

Joshua Rosenbloom,

Lawrence