Category: Kansas state government
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Taxes in Kansas at an All-Time High
At no other time in the state’s history have state and local governments imposed such a heavy tax burden on Kansas residents. This year, state and local taxes will capture 11.2 percent of the state’s income. The graduated income tax contributes to this all time high by creating a boom of revenue and spending during…
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The Perverse Kansas Gambling Law
As humans, we have the right to gamble, as it is an activity that people may voluntarily take part in, and it causes no harm or violence to others. As such, we have to wonder why most forms of gambling have been illegal in Kansas for so long. More importantly, what has changed this year…
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The Kansas Gambling Law I’d Vote For
Here’s the one law concerning gambling in Wichita and Kansas that I would vote for: “All laws prohibiting and regulating gambling in Kansas are hereby repealed.” That’s the only law consistent with personal freedom and liberty. The law that has been passed, however, provides more power for the state and more opportunities to regulate our…
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Disenfranchising and Dissing Kansans
When was the last time you got to vote on raising your property taxes for city, county, or other local services? How about a local bond issue that didn’t involve the government schools? This political power might be inherent but for most Kansans it is mainly invisible. In most other states these votes are routine…
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Wasteful Kansas statehousesSpending
Wasteful spending at the Kansas statehouse is nothing new. What is new is the wasteful spending on the Kansas statehouse. This building still has the ugly look of a construction site with a soaring price tag. In 2007 a bipartisan group of legislative moderates are intent on continuing this unlimited statehouse spending spree.
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Floods and whirlwind (of spending in Kansas)
Kansans are focused upon the floods as well as the results of the tornados that tore up this state in early May. The wrath of Mother Nature is upon us just as the Kansas legislature has left its own flood of spending and whirlwind of legislative changes on this state. The legislature’s fiscal wrath might…
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Regents spending plan and Wichita State University’s spending criticized
“Wichita State University’s part and the rest of the “crumbling classrooms” Regents Institution’s spending plan raises troubling fiscal problems now,” warned Kansas Taxpayers Network’s Executive Director Karl Peterjohn. “The initial list of proposed expenditures from the Board of Regents included substantial amounts of dubious spending proposals. Statewide over $1.4 million in spending on six presidential…
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United Van Lines Shows Kansas Decline
Kansans are voting with their feet and the result is that population growth is much faster in more competitive and taxpayer freindly parts of the country. According to the annual migration study conducted by United Van Lines, one of the nation’s largest moving companies, the Midwest and Kansas especially, are losing people at a greater…
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The stink in the Kansas Legislature and statehouse
A friend sent this short commentary along with analysis by former Kansas Senator Kay O’Connor of Olathe. As I have written, in a free society people should be able to gamble. Relying on gambling for economic development of our state, however, is a losing proposition. With the problems gambling brings — and even casino supporters…
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Economic fallacy alive in Kansas at Docking Institute
There really is no free lunch. What Kansans spend on university repairs can’t be spent on something else. Should Kansas spend the money that the Regents are asking for to repair the universities? Because it fails to recognize the secondary effects of the proposed spending, the analysis put forth by the Docking Institute doesn’t answer…
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Are you a second class Kansan?
The Kansas legislature is in the process of deciding how wide the separation will be between various classes of Kansans. State Senator Peggy Palmer, R-Augusta, and State Representative Judy Morrison, R-Shawnee, introduced bills in their separate legislative houses that would have exempted social security payments from the Kansas personal income tax this year.
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Higher Education Wants A Spending Spree
Soaring spending has not been spent evenly. The six Regents universities in Kansas initially asked for $727 million to fix deeply neglected buildings at these campuses. Governor Sebelius has performed a valuable service by responding that the Kansas Turnpike have higher tolls to fund this spending.