To the editor:

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U. S. Constitution states, “The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the General Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.”

And in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified: “The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on income, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

Since 2011, Gov. Brownback has used subterfuge to brainwash Kansans into believing that paying taxes is inherently bad. He has engineered the Legislature into lowering taxes time after time, especially for large corporations and wealthy people. He has bragged all over the country about his “Kansas experiment,” even though it was evident that it was failing and causing great harm to our system of education, social programs and the state credit rating. (That trickle-down theory never did work.)

And now, Mr. Simons and other Kansas voters have given him another chance. Perhaps this time the governor will re-read the above quotes from the Constitution and realize that it is the proud civic duty and obligation of every citizen to pay their fair share of taxes willingly, for the good of all the people! After all, even Jesus did that (Matthew 17:24-27.)