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Topeka — The chair of the Senate tax committee on Monday proposed increasing the state sales tax from 5.3 percent to 6 percent, and removing the sales tax on food in three years.
State Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, said he doesn’t want to raise taxes, but the state budget crisis requires more revenue. Over the past year, state spending has been cut about $1 billion from a $6.4 billion budget, and legislators still face an estimated $500 million revenue shortfall in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
From left to right, state Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, and state Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita. Donovan, chairman of the Senate tax committee, proposed an increase in the state sales tax from 5.3 cents to 6 cents per dollar and removing the sales tax on food in 2013. Legislators are searching for ways to close a $500 million revenue gap.
In addition, Donovan said he will propose a 25-cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax, an increase in alcohol taxes and imposition of a tax on sugar in soft drinks.
“Raising taxes is not something we want to do,” Donovan said. “If we thought there was another way to go, we would do that,” he said.
He said the target is to come up with approximately $350 million in new tax revenue.
Senate leaders have said a tax increase, combined with more budget cuts and expected federal dollars will close the revenue gap.
Donovan made his announcement at the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee meeting. He said the committee will work on the measure Thursday.
In addition to raising revenue, Donovan said removing the sales tax on food would align Kansas with most states that don’t tax food. Under Donovan’s proposal, the state sales tax on food would be stricken July 1, 2013, or possibly a year earlier if the economy rebounds strong.
Several business representatives urged the committee to reject tax increases.
Kent Eckels, a lobbyist with the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, said more needs to be cut from the state budget, including furloughing state employees.
“I haven’t seen that discussed seriously in the Legislature this session,” he said.
Tom Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Assocation, said nearly every proposed tax increase, sales, cigarettes, gas, soda -- was aimed at his group. “We’re looking down the barrel of a gun,” he said.
Donovan’s measure differs from one proposed by Gov. Mark Parkinson, who sought a three-year, 1-cent increase in the state sales tax, and 55-cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax.
Raising the sales tax by seven-tenths of a cent instead of a full penny “is a little bit less of a sucker puch,” Donovan said.
Donovan’s removal of the food tax would also do away with a $45 million per year sales tax rebate program for low-income Kansans. The saved rebate money would be used to fund a new highway program, he said.
The so-called soda tax would equal four-tenths of a cent per teaspoon of sugar, as opposed to a full cent per teaspoon proposed earlier.
Donovan’s tax plan got a chilly reception from several committee members.
But Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said votes need to be taken to see where legislators stand on the issue.
“We’re not going to get out of this session without voting on some of these proposals,” Schmidt said.
Comments
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zstoltenberg (anonymous) says…
Can we tax stupidity? It looks like we could make a mint in the statehouse alone!
Bob_Keeshan (anonymous) says…
The story in the Topeka Cap Journal includes this nugget:
Sen. Karin Brownlee, an Olathe Republican, said if the sales tax on food is eliminated, the state could find itself back in troubling budget times.
"It might just exacerbate the problem," she said. "We could fall into a habit of raising taxes."
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Of course, Sen. Brownlee has never met a tax cut for businesses and corporations that she doesn't like. I'm guessing if you suggested to her that a big business tax cut, like elimination of the corporate income tax, would create troubling budget times she would erupt like Mt. St. Helens.
But cut taxes for regular Kansans? Sacrilege!
rtpayton (anonymous) says…
Many states have no tax on food which help the poor with limited funds.
Keith (anonymous) says…
“is a little bit less of a sucker puch,” Donovan said.
What's a sucker puch?
Orwell (anonymous) says…
Serious question, no argument intended:
Do you set up vending machines to charge different amounts for sugared and diet soft drinks, or what?
kansasexile (anonymous) says…
After I left Kansas, I lived in the states of Colorado, California, and Nevada, which did not tax food or soft drinks. You pay tax on things like napkins and toilet paper and alcohol. When I visit Kansas, usually during the holidays, I go grocery shopping to get the food for the holiday feast, I get an unpleasant surprise at checkout. Now the sales taxes are higher, 8 or 8.5 percent, but I'd rather pay higher sales taxes on general items than on food and beverages, having lived in states that don't tax groceries most of my adult life.