Kansas Democratic Party

Education, taxes and poor leadership show how much Gov. Sam Brownback is out of touch with Kansans' priorities.  A new poll highlights the disconnect, Kansas Democratic Chair Joan Wagnon said Tuesday.

Only 36 percent of registered voters approve of the job Brownback is doing, a SurveyUSA poll reported. Sponsored by KWCH-TV in Wichita, the poll was conducted Jan. 19-24, 2012. Brownback's approval rating has dropped 19 points in a single year, tumbling from a 55 percent approval rating SurveyUSA reported in a Jan. 24, 2011, poll.

"Kansas Democrats believe in education, opportunity and responsibility," Wagnon said. "These are values and priorities that all Kansans share. But this administration's solutions for education are to slice funding to historically low levels and shift the burden of paying for schools to the backs of local property taxpayers.

"This administration's solutions for children are to eliminate tax laws like the Earned Income Tax Credit, which would throw an estimated 4,000 children into poverty, while wealthy corporations get the biggest windfall in state history. 

"This administration's solutions for jobs are to take away tax credits for home mortgages, while writing a law that kowtows to wealthy corporations.

"What makes the situation even more disturbing is that the administration has done nothing yet to replace the lost Boeing jobs. This administration's jobs plan is to cut taxes for wealthy corporations. Boeing executives have already said that taxes had nothing to do with their decision to shut down their plant in Wichita.  So the question now is what has Gov. Brownback done to replace these jobs?  His leadership is missing."

The beneficiaries of tax overhauls proposed by Gov. Brownback and House Republications are likely to be wealthy corporations -- and not just small businesses that create jobs, The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities says in a report it just released.

The major beneficiaries of such a giveaway are unlikely to be the small businesses and job creators that Governor Brownback says he is intent on helping.  Instead, the benefits would flow in great measure to large, established businesses, some of which don't even have employees. 

At the same time, the plans would drain $266 million or more a year from education and other necessities, the Center reports. The full version of the report and a pdf are available here.

Let's restore education, opportunity, responsibility to Kansas. Learn More

Help Democrats Restore Education Funding. The Democratic Plan

See the 14-point plan for putting Kansans back to work. Let's Put Kansas First

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports today that Gov. Brownback's proposed tax plan would increase taxes for the vast majority of Kansans, while cutting taxes for the richest of the rich. The Institute writes:

An ITEP analysis of the plan finds that the bottom 80 percent of the state’s income distribution would collectively see a tax hike under the Brownback plan, while the best off 20 percent of Kansans would see substantial tax cuts. For most middle- and low-income Kansans, the tax break from the income tax rate cuts would be completely offset by the loss of income tax credits and itemized deductions, as well as a higher sales tax rate.

More information about the Institute can be found here.

Download the report.

Recently retired Secretary of Revenue Joan Wagnon said Tuesday that the tax plan proposed by Gov. Sam Brownback hurts working families and the poor by literally picking their pockets as it preserves tax credits for banks and wealthy corporations.

 Wagnon analyzed the list of tax credits the Brownback plan proposes to remove, and the credits it proposes to preserve. She determined that the Brownback plan overwhelmingly favored banks, wealthy corporations and other businesses over wage earners. In some cases, like the tax credit for historic preservation, the plan allows banks and corporations to keep that credit while taking it away from individual taxpayers.

Under the plan, individual Kansans would lose $180 million in tax credits, while banks and wealthy corporations would retain almost all of their credits and deductions

“The governor has said he’s not picking winners and losers, but he is; he’s choosing banks and wealthy corporations over people,” Wagnon said. “This isn’t even remotely fair, and it drains funding from education.”

Wagnon retired in January 2011 after serving eight years as Kansas Secretary of Revenue. Today Wagnon serves as the chair of the Kansas Democratic Party. Wagnon issued her statement after completing a detailed review of the complex plan. In her first statement after seeing the plan, Wagnon also said:

If this plan ever becomes law, Kansans’ would no longer be able to claim a charitable deduction on their state income taxes for their church tithes and homeowners would no longer be able to deduct their home mortgage interest payments.

If this plan succeeds in doing nothing more than eliminating the Earned Income Tax Credit, as has been proposed, it will take money out of the pockets of at least 227,955 working Kansans.

If this plan only takes away the sales tax rebate for food, as has been proposed, it will take money from 365,159 Kansans.

If this plan only takes away the credit for child and dependent care expenses, it will take money from 71,963 Kansans at a time when child care is getting as expensive as college.

If this plan does nothing more than eliminate the tax credit for families who adopt children, it will be pick the pockets of 1,344 Kansans who are trying to provide a good home to needy children. 

I’m also deeply concerned by the implication that Kansans are only trying to defraud the state when they apply for an Earned Income Tax Credit. And make no mistake: By releasing materials listing the names of cases involving fraud in other states, the governor’s office is implying that Kansans who take this legal credit are criminals.

The proposed tax plan’s winners are wealthy corporations and banks and other businesses. The losers are wage earners. The losers are the people of Kansas, and that is just wrong. Everyone should pay their fair share.

All of the figures in this news release are from the Tax Expenditure Report, Calendar Year 2010, which was prepared by the Kansas Department of Revenue under Secretary of Revenue Nick Jordan.

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ABOUT JOAN WAGNON
Considered one of the nation’s top tax experts, Joan Wagnon retired in January 2011 after serving eight years as the Secretary of Revenue for the state of Kansas. She also represented Topeka in the Legislature for 12 years and chaired the House Taxation Committee for 2 of those years. Wagnon is the former chair of the Multistate Tax Commission and a past member of the board of directors for the Federation of Tax Administrators. Among other positions, Wagnon today serves as Chair of the Kansas Democratic Party. She is also the treasurer of the national board of directors of the Girl Scouts. 

7:02 PM: We agree with the Governor - we're the people of Kansas, and we're not quitting. We're not stopping in the fight for good schools. We're not stopping to fight to restore education cuts. We're not stopping in the fight to bring good jobs to Kansas and to make certain small businesses get a fair shake. We need leaders who have the right priorities. And we need leaders who are willing to stand up for what they believe. That means leaders who provide details about their plans. We need to do more for Kansas. We believe in education, opportunity and responsibility. We believe that by working together we can turn this state around. We can make it a place where the American Dream thrives.

We hope you'll join us in that great effort.

6:59 PM: Boeing is interesting to bring up. Boeing officials have said that the state's tax system had nothing to do with their decision to leave Wichita.

6:59 PM: But we're very concerned about the lack of details. Education funding has been cut way too much. What's going to happen if the Governor succeeds in cutting education's main source of funding -- the state income tax.

We have to have a fair tax system. We have to have a system that is fair to families that work hard and play by the rules. These are the people who need tax breaks.

6:57 PM: We're pleased to see any Governor recognizing Native American leaders.

6:56 PM: We have learned that the Governor wants to take away the money that school districts rely on to pay to transport students long distances to school. These are rural districts. We're also concerned that the Governor would take away the funding districts use to educate students who have trouble speaking English and are at-risk.

6:53 PM: In school finance, the current formula has stood the test of time and legal challenges. We're baffled here. We are wondering about the Governor's priorities: his plan locks schools into one level and makes it impossible for them to raise funding without raising their property taxes. This isn't fair and it isn't right.

6:52 PM: What is going to happen to medical care for the elderly and people with disabilities? There are so few details it's impossible to figure out what's going to happen.

6:49 PM: We've also heard a rumor that the Governor's plan will eliminate the tax deduction for charitable giving.

6:48 PM: How does this tax plan shift the burden from those who can most easily pay to working families? We are hearing some details about the tax plan, but unfortunately not from the Governor. So far we're hearing that he will get rid of some of the tax provisions that are of most help to working families like the earned income tax credit and the refund for the sales tax paid on food. We're still hearing nothing on how working families will be helped or hurt.

6:46 PM: We're listening carefully to Brownback's tax plan. We believe everyone should pay their fair share. So far he's short on details. But if we cut taxes for the richest and drain funding from schools, what happens to children? We would love to hear the details of the Governor's tax plans, but seems to be saying little. It is meaningless to compare Kansas to states with no income taxes because those states have oil and tourism income -- income Kansas doesn't have.

6:41 PM: We don't believe it's fiscally responsible to drain funding from schools. We need to do more, and we need to have better priorities.

6:40 PM: Where are those jobs?

6:38 PM: What are your priorities? What about our children and all the cuts in education? What about the needs of working families? We've got to have the right priorities.

6:35 PM: We definitely agree with Sam Brownback that it's too darn cold.

6:31 PM: And now we get the pageantry. But the question is: do our leaders have the right priorities for Kansas? What are they doing for our children and for working families?

6:26 PM: We're waiting, waiting... 

Gov. Brownback is setting his vision for the state. Stay tuned to hear about the Kansas Democratic vision and to hear our perspective on his plans. 

House and Senate Democrats today announced the Kansas Kids First plan to restore cuts in education funding, lower property taxes and make certain everyone pays their fair share.


"Cuts to Kansas schools have gone way too far in the last few years," said House Minority Leader Paul Davis of Lawrence.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka said,  “Our proposal is a reasonable, multi-year plan that will restore education cuts incrementally without increasing the tax burden on local property taxpayers. In fact, we're going to give Kansans a much-needed property tax cut."

The Lawrence Journal-World has already called the Democrats plan “a stark contrast to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's desire to rewrite the school finance formula and place more responsibility for education funding on local boards of education.”

 Davis said, "The problem has not been the formula; it has been the lack of funding. There is no reason to overhaul a school finance formula that has already withstood the muster of the Kansas Supreme Court. The Legislature simply needs to hold up its end of the bargain and fund the formula properly.

In events at Mission Valley Middle School in Leawood and Lowen Hill Elementary School in Topeka, Hensley, Davis and members of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses announced the details of Kansas Kids First.

The plan will increase school funding incrementally, adding $45 million the first year and building to increase base aid per student from the current $3,780 to $4,047 by 2015.

Kansas Democrats also propose sending $45 millon of the state’s excess revenue to cities and counties to help them lower their property tax rates.

The Lawrence Journal-World also reported today that the governor plans to propose a budget that would lock the education cuts into the current, low $3,780 per student level.

In just the last two years, $400 million has been cut from education spending in Kansas.

The Democratic plan would also retain the current system of weightings, which provide rural districts with the money to transport students long distances from home to school. Weightings also provide the money districts need to educate students who have problems with English, are at-risk or face other challenges.

The Kansas Democratic plan comes at the same time that Kansas has a surplus of revenue and Gov. Brownback is planning to announce a proposal to rewrite the tax system.

"Republicans want to give our surplus revenue to corporations who already aren't paying their fair share," Hensley said. "Democrats value public education, and we want the state budget to reflect that by using extra state revenue to make an investment in our children's future."

See more about the announcement on the Kansas House Democratic Caucus Facebook page.