Opinion

Commercial tax on rural buildings highest in nation

RYCKMAN RECAP, Ron Ryckman, 38th District Senator

We’ll be coming back for a veto session at the end of the month, but for now Week 13 means we have concluded all regular business of the 2024 Legislature and formally adjourned.

The big news, unquestionably, is that the House and Senate finally agreed on a comprehensive tax cut package that should be able to survive a gubernatorial veto, though hopefully that doesn’t happen. That is because the vote in the House was unanimous (119-0) and in the Senate 24-9, with four likely “yays” among those not present. If enacted, HB 2036 will reduce to two the personal income brackets (5.15 percent and 5.55 percent); do away entirely with the tax on Social Security; increase the property tax threshold; raise the standard deductions; and zero out the state sales tax on food effective July 1. It was properly heralded by our Senate President as providing relief to everyone, including a “sigh” to those of us who have been battling the issue for most of the past three years.

Still hope for tax relief

GUEST COLUMN, Shannon Francis, 125th District Representative

Last week was long. The House didn’t adjourn until about 2:30 Saturday morning - after unanimously passing property, income, Social Security, and food sales tax relief. Ending the night with this significant win for all Kansans with unanimous support in the House and bipartisan support in the Senate was inspirational for all of us. It’s truly incredible what can be accomplished when you have a great team of folks working together for the Kansans we serve back home.

Friday was the last day of the regular legislative session, also known as First Adjournment. All week, conference committees met and negotiated the details of certain legislation such as the state budget, tax relief, support for families wanting to adopt, national security protections from foreign adversaries like China, and many more important items.

The primary purpose of conference committees is to come to a compromise between House and Senate versions of a bill. The Conference Committee Report/final version of the bill must be approved by both the House and Senate before moving on to the Governor.

2023 state assessments – private schools once again outperform public schools

David Dorsey

kansaspolicy.org

Year after year, private schools, as a whole, outperform public schools when it comes to state assessment results. The results of the 2023 state assessments are yet another example. However, it seems the public-school establishment lives in an alternate reality when it comes to student achievement.

Free speech, tolerance under microscope with TurningPoint USA event in Lawrence

Michael Ryan

The Heartlander • kaninfo.com

Traditional American values of free speech, free markets and limited government are a surprisingly tough sell today – as evidenced by the need for, and the experience of, Turning Point USA.

Kansas rural voters among the targets of Soros, dark money influencers

By EARL GLYNN

Watchdog Lab • kaninfo.com

Under a newly-focused spotlight shined by conservatives on the massive funding and organizational resources Progressive Democrats have laid in place to influence particularly young and infrequent voters through daisy chains of “non-profit” outreach organizations, the extent of the reach of those groups and their ties to left-leaning funding sources becomes more and more clear.