In the 20 years I have lived in Kansas, I believe that there has not been an election at the state level that was more significant for the future than the current race for governor. If one simply ignores all of the campaign spin, the vitriolic attacks on character, the negative campaign advertisements, then it becomes clear that the choice between candidates that we now face revolves around fundamentally different approaches to governance and the idea of what the state of Kansas should look like in the future.

Gov. Brownback came into office with a simple, clear plan: abolish income taxes and reduce the size of government and the services government provides. He has faithfully carried through on that plan. During his governorship he has radically reduced the size of Kansas government and set in motion a tax program that will eventually remove income tax revenues from the state coffers.

Opponents of the governor and his policies have argued that his tax “reforms” will leave the state virtually bankrupt by 2018 necessitating not simply cutbacks in the services government provides but actual discontinuance of those services. The governor and his supporters believe in the economic theory espoused by Arthur Laffer, the economist famous for what has become known as the Laffer Curve, a theory that postulates that as tax burdens ease, business increases and the economy is buoyed thereby.

So far, state revenues have declined more than some folks are comfortable with and the promised economic advancement seems to be less than hoped for. The downward trend in tax revenues going to the state has negatively affected the state’s financial ratings in the capital markets. The governor and his supporters argue that it is too soon to judge whether his economic policies are successful. They say that we must wait longer to make such a judgment. However, voters will have to decide whether they share in the governor’s faith in his policies when they go to vote next Tuesday.

Paul Davis, the Democratic opponent in the race, has argued strongly that Brownback’s financial policies are both wrong and dangerous and that vital services such as education, law enforcement, and health care will be dangerously harmed by increasing state budgetary shortfalls occasioned by the tax cuts. Davis has promised that if he is elected governor he will stop the phase-in of the tax cuts and re-evaluate whether the state can, in fact, sustain such cuts over the long term.

I think that it is this fundamental difference over tax policy that is at the heart of the current election for governor. Further, there can be few issues that are more important to the state and its residents in the future than deciding on whether one is willing to support Gov. Brownback and his policies or will reject the Brownback plan and opt for that outlined by Davis. Given how crucial and fundamental the issues are I think that it is essential that every Kansan vote on Tuesday. Only in this way will the future of the state decided in a truly appropriate manner.