One of the amazing things about life in the Statehouse is that nearly everything that happens here has a political edge to it. Or two or three edges.

The latest scrap? Probably the Kansas Department of Revenue’s notice to the rest of the folks in the nation that if they sell stuff over the phone or internet or plain old mail and ship it to Kansas, they have to collect Kansas sales tax on the merchandise and send that money to Kansas, just like Kansas stores do. Those folks who don’t have a store in Kansas? They are “remote sellers” and the U.S. Supreme Court has held that they can be required to collect and remit sales tax just like the stores on any street in Kansas.

Well, Revenue has now put all those remote sellers on notice that Kansas wants that sales tax, and they should spend the morning filling out forms, registering with the state, and collecting and remitting those taxes to Kansas. Starting Oct. 1.

Sorta evens-up the prices, you don’t save 7.5 percent by just ordering stuff from out of state.

As it turns out, that notice is essentially a recitation of current state law.

Well, that notice of state law by Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly’s Department of Revenue and her agency’s intent to enforce it have become a political time bomb for conservative Republicans.

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, has blasted the governor for enforcing that state law because she believes that Kansas is going to be sued over it at some cost to the state, or at least diverting state lawyers who could presumably be doing something else, to defend it.

Oh, and the reason Wagle’s upset? It comes down to the governor vetoing a bill that cut $35 million in income taxes to generally upper-income individuals, $72 million to corporations that do business overseas, maybe in a few years reduce the sales tax on food, and…put some limits on just which out-of-state merchants have to collect Kansas sales tax.

Nope, the out-of-state sales tax wasn’t a big deal in the bill, and the political aspects of the corporation-oriented income tax cuts don’t appear to be as heart-rending as the sales tax on food for Wagle…at least in press releases.

And, that lawsuit over that out-of-state sales tax collection might actually happen because the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated that states probably ought to have some provision for exempting some minor-league businesses from the state’s strict sales tax rules. Something like maybe $100,000 in annual sales, and maybe 200 distinct transactions.

But that’s not state law now, and we’re wondering whether the Department of Revenue just administratively allowed those exemptions, so-called “safe harbor” exemptions, without legislative authority, whether there would be an arrest warrant out for Revenue Secretary Mark Burghart…

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Any chance lawmakers will consider some low-cost exemptions to the sales tax law next session? Or whether that “safe harbor” will become part of another major tax cut bill next session?

It could go either way.

If there’s a lawsuit, asserting that the state’s current law unconstitutionally hampers interstate commerce, it could take years to make its way through the U.S. Supreme Court.

If there’s a “safe harbor” bill that lets small and infrequent sales into Kansas without sales tax and the hassle of registering with the state? Well, that’s an amendment magnet that will undoubtedly wind up as an income tax cut bill that will include as frosting reduction in sales tax on food.

This may become a big issue in the election-year legislative session which starts Jan. 13.

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

I stepped out the front door one spring morning a few years back just in time to see a large falcon-shaped bird glide low overhead. It landed in a tree a block away, so I hustled to get my binoculars and our Kansas bird book. The bird sat contentedly, almost posing for me as if making certain I correctly identified it.

It was a Mississippi Kite, and although my bird book doesn’t show or give details to differentiate between males and females, we figured it to be a female in town to nest. I often begin my day with a walk around our neighborhood and I’m usually greeted by as many as 6 Mississippi Kites in the neighbor’s tall dead tree. They seem to like the high open vantage point from which to survey the neighborhood.

Mississippi Kites are light gray and slightly smaller than a red tail hawk, and are built trim and sleek, much like a falcon. They derive their name from their unique soaring style called “kiting.” Picture how a child’s kite rides the wind, gliding and sliding sideways back and forth. That’s how Mississippi Kites soar, as if on a string, sliding and almost rocking back and forth from side to side as they float effortlessly on the Kansas summer thermals. They are summer residents here, arriving in mid-April and leaving again in mid-November.

They are slowly expanding their territory northward and are quite comfortable nesting in our Kansas cities and towns. Nesting females are known to become very aggressive when their chicks are about to leave the nest, often dive-bombing humans and pets that get too close to the nest to suit them. We try each year to find a Mississippi Kite nest to watch, but have been unsuccessful thus far. Mississippi Kites are very social birds and are often seen in large groups. One day this week in downtown McPherson as I waited in the car for my wife to return from an errand, I began seeing Kites soaring above me. One or two at a time they appeared until I lost count at fifteen.

Kites occasionally feed on small reptiles and snakes but are mostly insect eaters and are skilled at snagging locusts and other flying bugs in mid-air. Last Sunday while eating ice cream in a local Dairy Queen, I watched a Mississippi Kite having dinner on a power pole just outside. It would suddenly fly toward a small group of trees nearby and return with a snack. After eating its snack, it would fly again toward the same trees, always returning with a morsel of some sort. I’ve been seeing the first locusts of the summer, and I’m betting it was finding them too.

My wife Joyce grew up on a farm south of Meade, KS, and after we got married I began hearing stories about a man named James Parker who had come to their farm for years to watch and study Mississippi Kites. A friend still living in Meade did some research and found more details to the story.

According to newspaper clippings, it was mid-June 1982 when Dr James Parker from the University of Maine first visited the Friesen farm near Meade. He was indeed there to observe Mississippi Kites, but he brought with him some visitors. Stan and Gladys were Swallow Tailed Kite chicks rescued from a nest in the Florida swamps.

Swallow Tailed Kites, although larger with a huge ornate tail, are close cousins to Mississippi Kites and until the early 1900’s were common in the eastern Kansas skies. They hadn’t been seen in the state for decades and Dr Parker was there to explore the possibility of reintroducing Swallow Tailed Kites into Kansas by transplanting chicks into existing Mississippi Kite nests. Stan and Gladys were put into active nests and Parker stayed around to observe. After two or three weeks Stan grew weak, lost weight and died, but Gladys was accepted by her foster-parents and seemed to thrive. Although the time line is unclear, Parker spent parts of 14 summers in Meade during the 1980’s and 1990’s studying the local Mississippi Kite population.

No one seems certain whether any more Swallow Tailed Kites were transplanted into Kansas. They’re not listed in my Kansas bird book so I suspect there are none in the state today. No one knows what happened to Gladys either, but I can say with certainty that Mississippi Kites are here to stay in south central Kansas and are steadily expanding their summer range to the north and east. So watch the sky and you’ll soon know if Mississippi Kites have come to your neighborhood, as you’ll see them floating and gliding effortlessly on the Kansas winds. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].