Voice For Liberty

Some Kansas House Members voted for spending, but not the taxes

Bob Weeks

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This year both the Kansas House of Representatives and Senate voted for increased spending and increased taxes. The taxes are primarily in the form of a one cent per dollar increase in the statewide sales tax, scheduled to take effect July 1.

When the budget and taxes were debated in the Senate, several senators made the point that if a member voted in favor of increased spending, they should also vote for the tax increase. In the Senate, all members who voted for increased spending also voted for the tax increase.

But in the House, that wasn’t always the case. Several members voted for increased spending, but not the accompanying tax increase. These members are:

Deena Horst, a Republican from Salina
Melanie Meier, a Democrat from Leavenworth
Shirley Palmer, a Democrat from Fort Scott
Willie Prescott, a Republican from Osage City
Gene Rardin, a Democrat from Overland Park
Don Schroeder, a Republican from Hesston
Clark Shultz, a Republican from Lindsborg
Lee Tafanelli, a Republican from Ozawkie
Milack Talia, a Democrat from Shawnee

I’m in the process of contacting these representatives to let them explain their votes. I’ve received a few responses.

I’ll give readers one hint, though: several of these members have conservative challengers in the upcoming elections.

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Comments

3 responses to “Some Kansas House Members voted for spending, but not the taxes”

  1. Virginia

    Interesting concept that you could vote to increase spending, but not want the higher taxes. Thank you Bob for bringing this to the fore front…..If you live in these districts: 1) support the conservative challenger 2) If there is not one…….ENTER THE RACE! This is the year of change and guess what? It is going to happen……

  2. Dan Widder

    Voting for a tax increase during a recession is bad enough as it stands. Voting for $315 million in spending, $200 million of which is new spending and then not voting for the revenue to pay for spending is down right irresponsible. These aren’t Tax and Spend Liberals, they are Spend and Spend Liberals. Washington DC come to Kansas. Be sure to support your local Conservative Candidates in the upcoming elections.

  3. Levi

    This is snark, Bob, and you don’t do snark. I was able to determine why the Democrats in this list voted against the sales tax within a few hours. It’s pretty easy to understand why a Democrat would support the budget, which they wrote, and not the tax bill, which was supported by a regressive sales tax.

    Snark doesn’t suit you well, Bob.

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