House Republican leaders on Thursday held a news conference to explain their budget proposal, which holds the line on taxes and reduces school funding. From left to right are state Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland, House Speaker Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, and House Majority Leader Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell. O'Neal said the full House will consider the proposal next week. The news conference was in O'Neal's office.
Topeka — A Kansas Senate panel failed to agree Thursday on a variety of tax increase proposals to close a projected gap in the 2011 budget.
Senate leaders say the stalemate makes it unlikely that legislators will be able to finish a base state budget by their planned recess later this month. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave Topeka on April 6 for three weeks.
“I hope that’s not the case,” said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, an Independence Republican and vice chairman of the tax committee.
That panel met and adjourned Thursday after failing to muster enough votes to endorse a variety of tax increase ideas, with suggestions ranging from a levy on sugary beverages to sales taxes. The tax revenue is critical to close a $364 million hole in a proposed budget the Senate will consider next week.
Earlier, the House Appropriations Committee endorsed a budget drafted by GOP leadership that cuts state spending and puts $302 million into reserves.
The plan would close the projected budget shortfall by not replacing federal stimulus dollars for education and borrowing $50 million from the state highway fund. School districts could replace the lost revenue by raising local taxes, subject to voter approval.
House Speaker Mike O’Neal said the Appropriations Committee was able to deliver on House GOP leaders’ promise to produce a budget without “draconian” cuts or tax increases.
“In talking to our caucus, the vast majority — virtually all of them — are looking for a budget that they can support that does not include tax increases,” said O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican. “This is it.”
The GOP plan also calls for cutting all other state agency budgets by 1 percent, eliminating all overtime unless authorized and closing all state offices at 3 p.m. on Fridays.
Appropriations Chairman Kevin Yoder said the plan reflected action Tuesday when the House voted to delay any debate on raising taxes, leaving little else to do but to assemble a budget with spending cuts.
“The instructions were clear. The majority of legislators determined that they didn’t want a budget that relied on higher taxes,” said Yoder, an Overland Park Republican.
The plan recommends that the state doesn’t replace $172 million in federal stimulus funds that were used in the current budget to fund K-12 education.
It also is built on the presumption that the Legislature will adopt a change in the school finance formula to require districts to raise a minimum of 10 percent of the base cost of an education with local taxes. The remaining 90 percent would be funded by the state.
Democrats said public schools bear the brunt of the GOP cuts, which they said would hurt all students.
“If you don’t believe education is important, you can do that,” said Rep. Bill Feuerborn of Garnett, the ranking minority member of the committee. “I think we’ll lose federal dollars.”
Feuerborn also complained about the House budget process, which was similar to last year when GOP leaders used their majority on the committee to push through cuts with no discussion about specifics. That resulted in the House defeating the GOP plan and adopting the Senate version in its entirety.
“I would hope we would have the votes to defeat this,” Feuerborn said, adding that merely accepting the Senate plan without House input isn’t the best policy choice either.
Parkinson and Senate Republican leaders had been counting on a tax package to move the state closer to solvency. The governor’s spokesman said Parkinson’s position on protecting schools and vulnerable residents from further cuts hadn’t changed.
“House Republican leadership should turn their attention toward working our way out of this recession by determining what revenue options are available for protecting these critical assets,” spokesman Seth Bundy said.
Comments
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jbiegs (anonymous) says…
I can't wait to see this!
newmedia (anonymous) says…
No new taxes. What a novel idea... Good luck...
KUinAussie (anonymous) says…
its impossible to balance an unbalanced budget without additional revenue. so they say they dont want to burden the taxpayer. whats left?
so this means, there will be higher payroll taxes for business's. and each business effected, will in turn raise their product prices to again, balance the sheets.
so this means, all those contributions to charitable funds will drop to re-balance the offsets. which in turn, will make the poor, even hungrier.
the only reason the government is paying lip service to the people is because china will no longer fund american taxpayers offsets.
did you know, bush's tax 'relief' of 450 billion dollars was 100% completely funded by the chinese government?
until you all file 'exempt' on your w-4's and take your own money back, this vicious cycle will continue.
dont say i didnt warn you all. i had seen the writing on the wall way before you all got to this point. i also saw, that americans are spineless for the most part and noone would even try to take their country back, so i did what any right minded individual would do. i left.
keep chasing your tails america and see where you end up.
Jimo (anonymous) says…
Maybe it involves House Speaker O'Neal to stop suing the state. The legal expenses saved should go a long way.
Liberty275 (anonymous) says…
KUinAussie
I take it that Australians don't pay taxes.
AlfVenison (Alf Venison) says…
Morons.
getreal (anonymous) says…
Legislative Post Audit just released an audit that shows the Kansas Legislature has given certain businesses property tax breaks which has resulted in the homeowner now paying more property tax. Change the funding formula to more LOB and another rise in property taxes on homeowners. So I guess Mr. Yoder and O'Neal's plan is more taxes on the average working family by higher property taxes, but done at the local level to keep schools open and they won't have to get their hands dirty. Nice work on behalf of Koch and the Kansas Chamber, balance the budget on the backs of children, the disabled, and the working class stiff.
merrill (anonymous) says…
Face it Reaganomics and TABOR stink! Al it does is give out corporate special interests OUR tax dollars.
Repubs are not economic giants:
Think about it. In the past 30 years the repub party has been in involved two major home loan scandals that effectively took the USA economy down the tubes. One is too damn many but twice represents repub economic policy. Wreckanomics is a failed economic policy. In fact wreckanomics is beginning to smell like well planned crimes.
The republican party have become masters at putting millions upon millions upon millions of people out of work. AND stealing taxpayers retirement plans along the way.
What Repubs do with a remarkable degree of consistency is wreck the economy,initiate huge movements of shipping jobs abroad aka the Reagan-Bush Global Economy and try to wreck social security and medicare.
Is there a definite pattern? Absolutely!
1. The Reagan/ Bush Home Loan Scandal
http://rationalrevolution0.tripod.com...
2. The Bush/Cheney Home Loan Scandal
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archiv...
3. What did Bush and Henry Paulson do with the bail out money?
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/10...
4. Why did GW Bush Lie About Social Security?( This would cost taxpayers $4 trillion and wreck the economy)
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archiv...
5. Still A Bad Idea – Bush Tax Cuts
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archiv...
6. The "tea parties" BTW are part of the wreckanomics program funded by the Koch Brothers... well known oil billionaires. These thinkers back a tax payers bill of rights which is another scheme to reward the upper 1% which is designed to wreck local and state governments.
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archiv...
All of the above displays reckless economic behavior that which drains the cookie jars.
What do Reagan,Bush and Bush republicans plan for 2010. Start the typical repub character assassination campaign which in essence is a massive cover-up scheme for the financial disasters that illustrate how the repubs are NOT the financial giants of our time.
elarson (anonymous) says…
The mistake was made when taxes were cut in the good times instead of maintaining them. Now where is the reserve during hard times. Dumb, dumb, dumb... a$$ backwards if you ask me.
Bob_Keeshan (anonymous) says…
Gotta love how the House GOP holds 3 months of committee hearings where they only discuss the Governor's budget, don't cut a darned thing, and then toss out a "balanced budget" on a Wednesday morning and pass it a couple of hours later.
Looks like the Legislature doesn't need a 90 days session, they really only need 4 or 5 days.
murphy59 (anonymous) says…
This doesn't seem like a good idea at all. It does, however, show why the US is so far behind the rest of the world in education.
KUinAussie (anonymous) says…
yeah, we pay taxes here.
800 dollars a week income = 75 dollars in total taxation
what do YOU pay each week in taxes?
and what do you get for it?
more debt.
recall, during 2009, when the USA was in a recession/depression, the australian economy actually GREW!
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
The solution is simple-- simply cut all education and social service spending, cut the minimum wage to 30¢ an hour, and boom, we're immediately competitive with countries like China and Indonesia.
avoice (anonymous) says…
elarson: You must be very naive to think that the State would not have spent all the windfall from the higher taxes during those boom years. Perhaps taxes should be higher than they are, but only if a spending plan can be responsibly implemented and preserved. The problem is that when the State has more money available during good times, more agencies dream up more projects to justify spending it all. Then, when things get tight, not only do we have no "rainy day" money available, but the agencies who've fattened themselves at the boom-times trough don't want to be put on a diet.
monkeyspunk (anonymous) says…
You are wrong avoice. It has and can be done on a national level in Norway.
They have been able to ride out this economic crisis, while the rest of world floundered. How? Because when times were good, they saved. They took the funds they saved and invested them and then created laws to protect it. When the schlitz hit the fan, they were able to bounce back, use those funds to bolster their economy and to purchase even more investments around the world on the cheap.
It can be done, our leaders just lack the cajones and intelligence to figure it out.
Jimo (anonymous) says…
AtlasShrugging: "So running up the national debt by tens of trillions is the progressive solution to our problems? Debt slavery to China."
First, you're thinking of "conservatives" not progressives. Dude! Like it just happened over the last decade. Just because you have amnesia doesn't mean the rest of us do.
Second, Reagan's domestic affairs adviser this week "No matter how one slices the data, the Tea Party crowd appears to believe that federal taxes are very considerably higher than they actually are, whether referring to total taxes as a share of GDP or in terms of the taxes paid by a typical family. Tea Partyers also seem to have a very distorted view of the direction of federal taxes." And spending. And debt. Ten of trillions? What part of "Lie" do you need to squirm out of here?
Full commentary on "The Misinformed Tea Party Movement" here:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/18/tea-...
All pretty weird for a "movement" founded on issues surrounding taxes and spending and debt. The article lays out the Tea Party claims side by side with the actual facts.
So, your solution to the greatest economic crisis in living memory is to yank the only pillar holding up the economy and refuse to provide for a massive middle class tax cut, a/k/a, the "stimulus"? All based on wacko economic theories that invariably are preceded by the adjective "eccentric."