To the editor:

Daily front-page news articles throughout Kansas paint an increasingly dire picture of the state’s budget. Bipartisan criticism of the governor’s proposal to erase projected shortfalls by June 2017 by diverting $858 million more from transportation funds should be a serious wake-up call for our legislators, but an even more serious concern for the residents (voters) of Kansas who elect those legislators.

Elimination of state income taxes for thousands of small businesses is touted as a formula to create more jobs in Kansas and reduce the need for personal income taxes. This is supposed to draw more small employers and jobs to Kansas. But, how many of these small businesses with good-paying jobs are the very ones that supply road and bridge construction labor and materials? Under the current proposal, many could actually be smaller or non-existent before 2017! The result may be negative job growth over the next three years for that significant employment sector because of  cuts forced by plundering nearly a billion dollars of highway funds to pay other “more pressing” obligations?

“We the people” elect our legislators and governor and expect the best interest of the Kansans to be their priority. Just as in business, political ideas and assumptions that at one time can seem logical, but prove otherwise, must be swiftly addressed rather than allowed to further erode the enterprise.  It is time to stop the rhetoric and rethink failing policy.