How about for a few minutes before we start sobbing and rending our garments because the Kansas Legislature didn’t pass what the news headlines near-universally refer to as “tax reform,” we take a minute to look at that tax bill that froze to death on a 59-59 vote of the Kansas House last Friday?

Now, “reform,” well that’s just gotta be good. Who doesn’t want reform of nearly everything from being trapped in the check-out line while the customer ahead fishes coupons out of his pocket/her purse or when the other table’s salads at the restaurant look better than the ones you got?

Reform on taxes, though, is one of those things that everyone sees a little differently.

The tax bill the House killed would have reapportioned among many classes of Kansas taxpayers their Kansas income tax liability next year. Not evenly among Kansans, but selectively.

Remember that last December’s federal tax law changed the federal standard deduction, from about $6,000 to $12,000 for single taxpayers and from $12,700 to $24,000 for marrieds filing a joint return.

Now, that’s a pretty good bump, and it will likely cut the federal income tax bill of about 80 percent of Kansans. And because the Legislature last week didn’t pass tax “reform,” that boosted federal standard deduction leaves more money for the state to levy income taxes against.

That reduction in federal income taxes provides the boost in state taxable income that creates the majority of the “windfall” that lawmakers were trying to use up with its now-deceased tax bill.

The Legislature never got a reliable, firm figure on just how much the lower federal taxes would increase the amount of Kansas taxable income—and therefore, Kansas tax receipts.

That’s a little like not knowing how thick the ice is before wandering out onto the lake in winter. Nice, thick ice: Have a good time; thin ice, stay on the dirt.

Next year, lawmakers will know how thick that ice is and can make informed decisions on whether they can walk on it without risk.

That risk is the one all—or, rather, some—lawmakers fear, that they would give away too much income tax revenue they need to operate the state and fund schools and highways and pension systems and social service programs without raising taxes again, as they did last year.

Oh, and that “reform” bill didn’t increase the standard deduction for Kansas taxpayers, that baseline for computing just how much money you will send to Topeka from the money freed up by sending less to Washington. It favored those with middle-range or higher incomes, probably more Republicans than Democrats, though we recall that you don’t have to check off political affiliation on your tax forms.

Yes, lawmakers could have passed a tax cut bill, and it would sure look nice on a House member’s campaign literature this summer and fall. But we’re doubting that there would have been a footnote saying who got the tax cut.

And members of the Senate, well, only one is running for retention this year, the other 39 won’t be printing up campaign literature for another two years, and they can just sigh and say, “wait until next year,” we’ll get you that tax break we tried for this year.

So, how’s this balance out? Legislators didn’t take a risk this year if the federal trickle-down doesn’t produce as much benefit for Kansas as had been guessed, and they won’t have to back up and trim a tax bill they didn’t pass.

If it turns out the federal tax cuts produce more revenue than expected? Bigger tax cuts, next year.

And nobody doesn’t want that…

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

National Bike Month includes an ever-expanding diversity of events in communities nationwide – but the biggest day of the month is Bike to Work Day. In 2018, Bike to Work Week will be May 14-18, with Bike to Work Day on May 18.

40% of all trips in the U.S. are less than two miles, making bicycling a feasible and fun way to get to work. With increased interest in healthy, sustainable and economic transportation options, it is not surprising that, from 2000 to 2013, the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S. grew by more than 62 percent.

I started bike commuting a number of years ago when there was street construction downtown and parking spaces were limited. I found that if I rode to work in the morning, home for lunch and home again at the end of the day I would log a total of 7 miles. Now I’m hooked on bike commuting. Unless it is below 15 degrees or icy underfoot, you are likely to see me in my hi-vis green jacket pedaling to or from work.

Bike commuting is a great way to squeeze regular exercise into a busy schedule. Commuting time can be used to stay in shape instead of sitting frustrated in traffic. Statistics also show that bicycle commuters are happier and more productive at work. The mild temperatures we have been enjoying the past few days give us few excuses to not get out there and go for a ride. Whether you are an occasional or everyday rider please keep the following bicycle safety tips in mind.

• Consider a helmet a necessity. Without a helmet, riders who sustain an injury are 14 times more likely to become a fatality. Choose a helmet that meets or exceeds safety standards established by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Make sure the helmet fits, rather than one a child will grow into. Replace the helmet if an accident occurs or if the helmet is badly jarred or cracked.
• Ride with traffic, rather than facing the traffic. Consider adding a rear view mirror to your bicycle gear. I have one that attaches to my helmet so I can constantly monitor the traffic behind me.
• Obey traffic signals. Use hand signals to let others know your intentions.
• Stay alert and keep your mind on your riding. This should be the same advice for many people in cars. Too many times we have been in close calls with drivers who are on cell phones or just inattentive to the traffic around them.

Many parents ask at what age a child is old enough to ride in the street rather than on the sidewalk. There is not a one-size-fits-all age. A child’s maturity level is the main factor. Other factors are the size of the community, traffic patterns and congestion, and whether it is a residential area or a business district. A smaller community can seem peaceful and safe, but may have periods when safety is compromised – for example, after a ball game, during a community festival, or at harvest time.

Now go out and enjoy this beautiful spring weather with a family bike ride!

Donna Krug is the Family and Consumer Science Agent and District Director with K-State Research and Extension – Cottonwood District. You may reach her at: (620)793-1910 or [email protected]    

Part cultural icon and part invasive nuisance, tumbleweeds have an intriguing and tangled history. You know, tumbleweeds — those twisted balls of dead foliage rolling across the open range and roads.

If you’re driving any distance this spring, you’ll see them rolling across the highways. Traveling on Highway 24 last weekend I nailed a two-footer while bumping a few others out of my path.

Tumbleweeds first gained notoriety when the Sons of the Pioneers romanticized them in song back in the late ‘30s. I remember seeing my first ones in the early ‘50s. In the early spring, summer and fall when winds howled across roads in my native Sheridan County, tumbleweeds raced across the flatland. Incidentally, I recall singing along with the Pioneers and I still remember the song well.

This plant is as much a symbol of the old Wild West as Wyatt Earp, cattle rustlers, the coyote and the rattlesnake. The image of the lonely rider and the ghostly shape of the tumbleweed bounding in silence across the endless plains has inspired a certain misty-eyed nostalgia even in folks who have never journeyed west of Kansas City – except to travel through our state to ski in Colorado.

In truth, this weed is a blasted nuisance. Even its Latin name (Salsola pestifer) identifies it as a menace.
The tumbleweed is also known as the Russian thistle. This plant was brought to the continent in the 1870s as a contaminant in shipments of flax seed imported to western Canada. By the turn of the century, the weed had a foothold from coast to coast.

The tumbleweed can survive and grow almost anywhere. It remains one of the hardiest plants in the United States. Unfortunately, no one has found a good use for this thorny weed.

The tumbleweed can cause problems for farmers and ranchers. This nuisance weed clogs irrigation ditches, catches and accumulates litter, disrupts traffic, causes fires, poses a health threat to some livestock and even breaks down fences on windy days.

In Kansas and other western states, thousands of man hours are spent each year clearing tumbleweeds from irrigation ditches and railroad tracks. In the spring the weeds are fought with herbicides and in the fall the dried plants are sometimes burned.

Fighting tumbleweeds is a constant battle. Nearly every breezy day they bound across the prairie and every spring they sprout by the millions.

Although tumbleweeds have been in this country for nearly 150 years, no one has found a reason to cultivate this plant. One thing is certain; this nuisance weed is here to stay unless our plant scientists can find a use or method to eradicate the tumbling, tumbling tumbleweed.

So why not romanticize ‘em?

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

Ten journalists were killed in a series of attacks Monday in Afghanistan. The week prior, 14 journalists from Turkey’s leading opposition newspaper, Cumhuriyet, were given lengthy jail terms after a show trial based on trumped-up charges. Nine Turkish journalists who worked for Zaman, Turkey’s most widely-read newspaper until it was shuttered by the government, now face life sentences simply for writing columns critical of the government.

And already this year, at least 26 journalists worldwide have been killed — some in conflict areas but many targeted for murder — according to tallies by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.

For Americans, that ought to bring sobering perspective — and a refocusing — after the recent burst of media and presidential handwringing over a barbed routine by comedian Michelle Wolf at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, where such remarks are as predictable as they are forgettable.

President Trump jumped to Twitter to decry Wolf’s jokes, calling her performance a “very big, boring bust.” He had refused to attend the dinner for the second consecutive year.

In a tweet defending Wolf, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel did the best job of putting to rest the tempest in a D.C. teapot: “Dear ‘the media’ — @michelleisawolf was FUNNY. Hire a juggler next year.”

With the media and White House’s attention hovering on the flap over the White House Correspondents Dinner, it was left to newly-minted Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to respond to the deadly attack on journalists in Afghanistan. He called the free press “the cornerstone of democracy” and delivered a reminder of threats to journalists worldwide. He also said that the “vibrant media landscape that has developed in Afghanistan will endure, in large part due to those journalists and media professionals who tragically died in today’s attack.”

Nine journalists were killed and at least five more were wounded April 30 in suicide bombings in Kabul, the capital, and one was killed in a shooting in a rural province. Multiple reports noted that the Kabul attack was the deadliest targeting journalists since January 2015, when terrorists opened fire at the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people, eight of whom were staff members.

Less visible to Americans is the collapse of the free press in Turkey, following an attempted 2016 government coup. A Turkish court on April 24 sentenced 14 staff members of Cumhuriyet to up to seven years in prison on vague and unsupported charges of terrorism — a verdict that international press and human rights advocates decry as retaliation for the paper’s ongoing criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Border’s 2018 press freedom index, released just weeks ago. The NATO member nation has now jailed more journalists than any other country in the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Lest we forget amidst the reports of carnage and corrupted justice systems, the battle for a free press also involves widespread efforts to promulgate “fake news” — either in a direct attempt to fool news consumers, or to discredit real journalism. My colleagues at NewseumED offer lesson plans and tools to fight “flawed” news at www.newseumed.org, and on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, they participated in a panel on media literacy hosted by the U.S. State Department.

On June 4, we invite you to join us — either in person or via live stream — for the annual rededication of the Newseum’s Journalists Memorial. This year, the names of 18 journalists who died in 2017 in the pursuit of news will be engraved on a soaring glass-plated wall. They represent more than 60 reporters killed last year.

As the attacks in Afghanistan, and the murders of journalists from Mexico to Malta, India to Iraq, and many more countries around the world demonstrate all too well, journalists continue to be seen as a threat to political power and to controlled narratives promulgated by dictators, drug lords and terrorists.

Let’s spend much less time fretting about a few moments of dinner commentary and more on condemning those who work relentlessly to kill truth by murdering, jailing or punishing the truth-tellers.

Gene Policinski is president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute. He can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter at @genefac.