Sam Brownback Archives - Voice For Liberty

Mar

WichitaLiberty.TV: What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan

In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Dave Trabert of Kansas Policy Institute joins Bob and Karl to discuss his new book What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan –- The Undoing of a Good Idea. View below, or click here to view at YouTube. Episode 186, broadcast March 3, 2018. Shownotes Kansas tax experiment – not a cautionary tale but lessons to be learned Kansas Policy Institute

Mar

By Bob Weeks

What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan

From Kansas Policy Institute. What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan New Book Outlines Tax Lessons from Kansas “Experiment” Tax relief opponents have repeatedly pointed to the 2012 Kansas tax plan as their primary example of why tax cuts do not work. But, other states like North Carolina, Indiana, and Tennessee contemporaneously, and successfully, cut taxes. What was different about the Kansas experience? The answer to that question is multi-dimensional according to a new book from Kansas Policy Institute, entitled What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan -- The Undoing of a Good Idea. The book covers the six years…

WichitaLiberty.TV: Radio Host Andy Hooser

Dec

By Bob Weeks

WichitaLiberty.TV: Radio Host Andy Hooser

In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Radio Host Andy Hooser of the Voice of Reason appears with Bob Weeks to discuss issues in state and national political affairs. View below, or click here to view at YouTube. Episode 177, broadcast December 23, 2017. Shownotes The Voice of Reason radio show on Facebook Video: Andy's talk to the Wichita Pachyderm Club Mid America Ag Network

Jun

By Bob Weeks

Voting to raise taxes in Kansas

Printable tables of voting on legislation that raised taxes in Kansas. The legislation that implemented tax increases in Kansas in 2017 is SB 30, titled "Concerning taxation; income tax, determination of Kansas adjusted gross income, modifications, rates, itemized deductions and credits; sales and compensating use tax, collection and distribution thereof, STAR bonds." [1. Kansas Legislature, SB 30. Available at http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2017_18/measures/sb30/.] Important action on this bill took place on June 5 and 6. On the first day, each legislative chamber passed a conference committee report. That's a version of the bill that's produced by a committee of three members of each…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

Kansas bills deserve the veto pen

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback may exercise a line item veto over any item in the just-passed budget and school spending bills. Here are a few ideas that deserve the veto. A small matter: In his recommended budget, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback recommended moving the Kansas Securities Commissioner to the Insurance Department. That happened. But his recommendation to move the Board of barbering to the Board of Cosmetology was not followed. As a result, $186,384 must be added to spending for FY 2018. This is all funds spending, not general funds. There is a deletion of spending from the Board of…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

The yardstick for the Kansas experiment

A politician's boasting should not be the yardstick for policy. As noted by Ed Flentje in the Wichita Eagle: As a newly elected governor in 2011 Brownback embraced the discredited, tax-cut dogma of Arthur Laffer in the belief that tax cuts would dramatically stimulate economic growth. He told a friendly audience that cutting income tax rates would generate even more revenue for government. Soon after, the governor elevated the bluster. His tax cuts would give “a shot of adrenaline in the heart of the Kansas economy.” “We’ll have a real live experiment.” “Look out Texas. Here comes Kansas!” “Glide path…

Jan

By Bob Weeks

In Kansas, the war on blight continues

Kansas governments are trying -- again -- to expand their powers to take property to the detriment of one of the fundamental rights of citizens: private property rights. Last year cities in Kansas lobbied for a bill that would expand their powers to take property from its lawful owners, all in the name of saving neighborhoods from "blight." Governor Brownback vetoed that bill, explaining, "The right to private property serves as a central pillar of the American constitutional tradition."[1. Weeks, Bob. Governor Brownback steps up for property rights. https://wichitaliberty.org/kansas-government/governor-brownback-steps-property-rights/.] The governor further explained: "The broad definition of blighted or abandoned…

Again, KPERS shows why public pension reform is essential

Jan

By Bob Weeks

Again, KPERS shows why public pension reform is essential

Proposals in the Kansas budget for fiscal year 2018 are more evidence of why defined-benefit pension plans are incompatible with the public sector. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has proposed delays in funding KPERS, the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. The delays are in both directions. The state intends to break a past promise to pay, and also to skip some future payments. A memo from KPERS summarizes recent history and the proposed changes: "Last fiscal year, the State delayed its fourth quarter payment for School employer contributions with a promise to pay it in Fiscal Year 2018 with interest. The…

Holding politicians to their boasts and promises

Jan

By Bob Weeks

Holding politicians to their boasts and promises

There are useful lessons we can learn from the criticism of Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, including how easy it is to ignore inconvenient lessons of history. Tax cuts in Kansas were promised by Governor Brownback to be a "shot in the arm" for the Kansas economy. Opponents of the governor and tax cuts take great delight in reporting the generally anemic growth of the Kansas economy since then. Month after month, the tax cuts are condemned by Kansas newspaper editorial writers and the governor's detractors. I don't think it's a particularly strong form of argument to defend someone by showing…

Dec

By Bob Weeks

Year in Review: 2016

Here are highlights from Voice for Liberty for 2016. Was it a good year for the principles of individual liberty, limited government, economic freedom, and free markets in Wichita and Kansas? Also be sure to view the programs on WichitaLiberty.TV for guests like journalist, novelist, and blogger Bud Norman; Radio talk show host Joseph Ashby; David Bobb, President of Bill of Rights Institute; Heritage Foundation trade expert Bryan Riley; Radio talk show host Andy Hooser; Keen Umbehr; John Chisholm on entrepreneurship; James Rosebush, author of "True Reagan," Jonathan Williams of American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC); Gidget Southway, or Danedri Herbert;…