One prominent op-ed theme this spring has argued that Kansas voters have been misled by the current crop of politicians. Conservative politicians, instead of executing pledges to end “ineffective programs,” eliminating services they believe to be inappropriate for government to do, and engaging in what Governor Bob Docking used to call “austere but adequate” budgeting, made a mess.
Previous tax cuts have failed to stimulate the economy. Unable to identify or agree on programmatic changes, the 2015 legislature made $50 million in euphemistic “efficiency cuts,” and enacted over $400 million in consumption and other tax increases.
This uncoordinated yo-yo approach to the state’s fiscal matters must be driving voters crazy. Then there are the universal convictions that however it works, “the system” doesn’t work properly or fairly. It’s probably safe to say that Kansans are pretty sure they are personally paying too much for government, and others are not paying anything. The error in that opinion is that those perceived to be paying nothing are generally thought to be the people at the bottom of the economic heap rather than the top. It’s not true. There’s a familiar adage attributed to former Louisiana Senator Russell Long: “Don’t tax you and don’t tax me, tax that fella behind the tree.” What is a plain Kansan to think about her government and what it costs?
In general, no one except infants and those in the custody of the state avoids paying taxes. Some unlucky Kansans with incomes below the average actually pay proportionately more in state and local taxes than those with above average incomes. People at the low end of the economic ladder consume and therefore pay tax on all of their incomes while individuals with higher incomes do not have to consume everything leaving some income and wealth to shelter from taxation, especially if they happen to be independent Kansas business owners.
The average American pays approximately thirty cents of every dollar he or she makes in a working lifetime to government for the public goods and services they receive. It is fairly simple to quantify and demonstrate that over our lifetimes we are likely to receive greater aggregate value in those public goods and services than we actually pay. This is one reason why the national government runs deficits. It’s also why things like education seem to cost so much. Taxpayers are often paying current resources for things that will not yield a return until long into the future.
My colleagues Ed Flentje and Joe Aistrup in their excellent 2010 book Kansas Politics and Government: The Clash of Political Cultures note the Kansas public’s strong admiration and attachment to an individualistic culture whose highest value is liberty and freedom from the dictates of government. Truth told, this is little more than frontier romanticism. The maintenance of international and national markets, the provision of transportation infrastructure, the provision or subsidization of healthcare for the poor, the disabled, veterans, and the elderly, the public funding of K-12 and higher education, the provision of sanitation, recreation, and public safety, and a myriad of other public goods all have considerable collective support. Paying excessively for such things is unwise, but denying the need for them and believing bombastic arguments against them is foolish, if not delusional.
A lot of Kansans believe there was a surplus of bad policy making on display during the 2015 legislature. It’s up to them to decide if they want to endure more of it in the future. So far they seem to be waiting for “that fella behind the tree” to take the initiative; perhaps it needs to be that fella in the mirror.
Dr. Mark Peterson teaches political science at the college level in Topeka, KS.