Letter: Voting rights

To the editor:

Citing as justification a mere handful of past voter fraud cases, Kansas government strips 36,000 residents of a legal freedom they formerly enjoyed: voting in state elections. Could a federal class action suit compensate them for injuries their American citizenship rights will henceforth suffer?

One redress of grievance hinges on whether Kansas will compel these “disappeared” thousands to pay state personal income tax after terminating their in-state voting rights. A federal judge might order this entire group of expunged voters be exempted from state personal income tax. (If Kansas lets them vote in federal but not state elections, then Kansas can’t tax them.)

Trial evidence introduced by plaintiffs would include: the 2012 tax law that initially exempted from personal state income tax 181,000 business owners (now over 310,000 exempted); Gov. Brownback and conservative legislators vowing in 2013 to eliminate the state personal income tax altogether; subsequent revenue shortfalls triggering domino-effect reductions in a once-broad spectrum of city and county public services statewide. These and more taxation-related changes, our governor and legislative majority argue, are essential to improving the state’s economy and quality of life.

Republican conservatives could hardly complain if a federal judge injects a 36,000-resident shot of “Kobach adrenaline” into a heart now fibrillating from 310,000 business owners not paying a penny in state personal income tax. Indeed, such a court ruling would help speed Kansas government’s gurney ride into Receivership ER — perfectly compatible with conservative Republican ideology and lawmaking strategy as expressed in recent years.