Wichita senators seek to eliminate food sales tax

? Two state senators from Wichita are working on a proposal to eliminate the state sales tax on food, but with finances already tight they acknowledge the odds are long for it to happen soon.

The Kansas Department of Revenue estimates that about $392.5 million is generated by the sales tax on groceries, of which about $325 million goes into the state’s general fund.

The state is currently projected to have a $260 million deficit by the end of June 2016, The Wichita Eagle reported.

“I think everyone is cognizant that we do not have the luxury right now of eliminating more taxes in Kansas because of the budget projections,” said Sen. Michael O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican who is working with Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat, on a plan they hope to introduce in the Legislature next year.

O’Donnell said he is working with the Legislative Research Department to look at slowly reducing the sales tax on food over several years.

“Nothing is going to happen overnight,” he said.

Kansas is one of 14 states that levy sales taxes on food purchased for home consumption, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Kansas Revenue Department says such food purchases make up about 15 percent of the total state sales tax collections.

“Every Kansan eats, so lowering sales tax on food is a benefit to every Kansan, whether you’re living off Social Security or a billionaire,” O’Donnell said.

He said he worked on a similar proposal on the tax code during the 2013 session, but that effort was rejected by the House.

A few years ago Kansas had a tax refund on food sales, but in 2013 the state instead began providing a food sales tax credit for low-income, elderly and disabled people on their income taxes, Revenue Department spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda said.

She said the state doesn’t have any data on how many people claimed the tax credit because not all of the income tax returns for that first year have been processed.