It had been dying for some time, now is dead. Governor Sam Brownback’s tax experiment has been laid to rest. An ill-fated chapter of Kansas political history has come to a close.

A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers axed the exemption of 330,000 business from income taxes and rescinded provisions for the complete elimination of state income taxes. They did so by overriding the veto of an obstructive governor.

As a newly-elected governor in 2011 Brownback embraced the discredited, tax-cut dogma of Arthur Laffer in the misguided belief that tax cuts would dramatically stimulate economic growth. He told a friendly audience that cutting income tax rates would generate even more revenue for government.

Soon after the governor elevated the bluster. His tax cuts would give “a shot of adrenaline in the heart of the Kansas economy.” “We’ll have a real live experiment.” “Look out Texas. Here comes Kansas!” “Glide path to zero.”

Brownback made the most serious tactical blunder of his governorship in 2012. He refused to negotiate with centrist Republicans on taxes and subsequently double-crossed them by signing a deeply flawed tax bill. That bill cut income tax revenues by nearly $5 billion over five years, made no reduction in spending, and sent the state careening from one financial crisis to the next.

The governor’s own hubris, coupled with the Kansas State Chamber’s demand that income taxes be eliminated, compelled his huge misstep. But Brownback doubled down and joined in the Chamber’s purge of mainstream Republicans and Democrats in 2012 and 2014. A handful of businesses led by Koch Industries of Wichita poured cash into the Chamber’s campaign war chest.

Brownback fanaticized of Kansas as a national model of red-state governance; his dream would draw media attention from across the nation. In campaigning for reelection he proclaimed: “The sun is shining in Kansas and don’t let anybody tell you any different.” But a few days after the 2014 election he would acknowledge that the state had sunk into a financial abyss.

The governor promoted financial fixes in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017—all designed to preserve his beloved experiment: spend down balances, increase taxes on consumers, borrow money, and shortchange core services—schools, universities, highways, public pensions, and other essentials.

A general fund balance of $700 million was spent to zero. Two sales tax increases gave Kansas the highest sales tax on food in the nation. Property taxes jumped as well. Proceeds from long-term, record breaking highway bonds, totaling $850 million, were siphoned off to pay for tax cuts. Growth rates trailed the region and the nation. The 2016-17 budget deficit ballooned to $300 million.

Kansans had seen enough. Brownback’s approval ratings plummeted to the lowest among the nation’s governors. In 2016 voters rebuked the governor and elected a new class of centrist Republicans and Democrats who campaigned to end the experiment. Forty contested seats changed hands.

A super-majority of state lawmakers has now abandoned the ideological illusion of eliminating the income tax and restored the three-legged stool of state and local finance that has served Kansas well for nearly a century. This long-standing, bipartisan tax policy strives for relative balance among property, income, and sales taxes and thereby assures lower tax rates overall, reduces tax competition with other states, and provides tax fairness based on income.

Kansans should give a standing applause to those lawmakers, particularly Republican legislators and their leaders, who defied an obstinate governor, returned sanity to state finance, and acted in the best interests of Kansas as a whole. Voters who elected these lawmakers in 2016 deserve a hand as well.

H. Edward Flentje is professor emeritus at Wichita State University.

This week, the Kansas Senate and House voted to override Governor Brownback’s veto of a bill designed to generate additional revenues for state government.  The bill replaces the two-bracket income tax system adopted in 2012 with a new three-bracket system.  It accomplishes several important objectives:

• Once again imposes income tax on LLCs, Sub-S corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships and farmers.  Designed to stimulate economic growth, this “small business incubator” failed to live up to expectations and was widely viewed as inequitable.
• Stops the “march to zero income tax” and restored balance to the traditional three-legged stool of Kansas taxation – income, sales, and property tax
• Restores fiscal stability to the state budget, correcting the persistent structural imbalance between state expenses and revenue.
• Provides for adequate funding for Kansas schools and other core services of state government

In addition to establishing new income tax rates, the bill restores certain deductions and credits:

Medical Expenses – The bill allows a 50 percent deduction for medical expenses for 2018 and the amount would increase to 75 percent in 2019 and 100 percent in 2020.  Under Governor Brownback, the medical expense deduction was repealed in 2015.

Child and Dependent Tax Care Credit – The bill would reestablish the credit and it would be set at 12.5 percent of the allowable federal amount for 2018, 18.75 percent for 2019 and 25 percent for 2020 and thereafter.  25 percent is the rate that had been utilized prior to the repeal in 2012.

Mortgage Interest and Property Taxes – The bill would increase itemized deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes paid, currently set at 50 percent of the federal allowable amounts, to 75 percent for 2019 and 100 percent in 2020.

Low-Income Exclusion Threshold – The bill would reduce the low-income exclusion threshold from $12,500 to $5,000 for married filers and from $5,000 to $2,500 for single filers.

Included below are the individual income tax brackets, married filing jointly and revenue projections. You will note the tax rates in the current bill are lower than income tax rates from 1992 – 2012.

Click on table for larger view

Raising taxes on the people of Kansas is never something to celebrate.  However, I have consistently claimed, from the day of enactment, that the tax cuts of 2012 were “too much, too soon”.  I stated back then that it is a good thing to cut taxes and relieve the tax burden on the people whenever possible.  And while I recognize the value that lower taxes bring to the economy, as a legislator I also have a duty to ensure that state government functions properly in delivering essential services to the citizens of the state.  I have spoken in past newsletters of our ongoing efforts to rein in expenditures and increase efficiencies.  Budgets have been cut wherever feasible, and it was finally time to address the fiscal imbalance.  We still face significant challenges, ranging from restoring funding for Kansas highways, stepping up contributions to KPERS, increasing funding to schools, to providing long-overdue pay increases to state employees.  This tax bill will set us on the road toward meeting those obligations as we eliminate the fiscal instability.

Here is a statement on the bill from the Kansas Economic Progress Council:

http://ksepc.org/2017/06/kepc-news-release-income-tax-bill-will-ultimately-be-good-for-the-economy/
Cowboy Logic

Quote of the Week

Sermon in a sentence

Let’s go to Alaska, where a gentleman is presenting his wife with a gorgeous one-carat diamond ring. Where do you suppose that ring came from? Would you believe, way down in rural Kansas?

Wayne Horlacher is the retired owner of Horlacher Jewelers in Colby, Kansas. His son Jeff, the current owner, sold this beautiful ring to a friend in Alaska. Wayne and his wife Millie, an author, have served their community for years.

Wayne’s father’s family operated the Colby Mill and Elevator where they produced Pride of the Plains flour until the hard times of the 1920s. Wayne’s father then went to watchmaking school in St. Louis and came back to Colby where he worked for a local jeweler and then bought his business. In 1927, Wayne’s father opened Horlacher Jewelers.

“He made it through the years of the Depression when people didn’t have any money. Sometimes he would take chickens or beef as payment,” Wayne said. “When I was a kid, he showed me how to clean clocks at his shop.” Wayne went to K-State where he graduated in business administration with minors in accounting and economics. He also played baritone in the marching band, where he met a cute girl who also played baritone. Millie came from a farm in northeast Kansas.

Wayne and Millie were married. He served as a second lieutenant in the Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis before returning to Kansas. Wayne went to watchmaking school at Bradley University and came back into the family jewelry business in Colby. In 1965 he assumed ownership of Horlacher Jewelers when his father retired.

Wayne and Millie had four children, all of whom pursued higher education: Jeff, who graduated from Kansas Wesleyan in psychology and went on for a master’s degree at Fort Hays State; Jan, who went to Baker University in Baldwin and then to Purdue for her master’s degree in mechanical engineering; Joan, who had a great love of animals and graduated from the veterinary assistant program at Colby Community College; and Jim, who also went to Baker University and got an MBA at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh on a Rotary scholarship.
Jeff, the oldest son, practiced counseling in Great Bend and Hays for several years before coming back into the family business to help his father. In 2000, Wayne retired and Jeff assumed ownership, although Wayne still helps out. Jan now lives at Manhattan where her husband, Kevin Carnes, is a research physicist at K-State. Jim is in Lenexa where he is a financial advisor in socially responsible investing.

Wayne and Millie share an interest in socially responsible living. In 1980, they purchased a 26-acre tract of land in Colby which they named “Eco Acres.” It is governed by covenants requiring energy efficient, environmentally friendly homes. These lots have proven popular recently. In 2015, there were 21 lots left for sale in the development. By May 2017, only six lots remained unsold.

Horlacher Jewelers is located in downtown Colby which has a population of 5,639 people. Now, that’s rural. The store offers diamond rings and colored gems for weddings, engagements, and gifts, plus wearable jewelry such as bracelets and necklaces. Wayne still does watch repairs. Many watches now have battery-powered quartz movements which the shop can repair or replace.

In 2017, Horlacher Jewelers will mark 90 years of ownership within the same family. How does a store survive for 90 years? “Hard work, dedication, and good business practices,” Wayne said. “You have to be willing to put in extra time and continue to develop expertise and customer relations.” For more information, see www.horlacherjewelers.com.

It’s time to leave Alaska where we find a beautiful ring sold by Horlacher Jewelers of Colby, Kansas. We commend Wayne, Millie and Jeff Horlacher for making a difference by serving this community for generations. For Colby, this local, family-owned business is a real gem.

And there’s more. Remember that Millie Horlacher is an author? She writes inspirational work – which would prove vital when her family was hit with tragedy. We’ll learn about that next week.

It is repeated many times in the life insurance industry that the only way to beat a life insurance policy is to die. Certainly, a tax-free death benefit available to your loved ones will be much appreciated and, in many cases, is a much needed benefit the day you leave this earth. However, you’ll be gone and not able to enjoy the benefit, so the much coined phrase, “I have to die to beat my life insurance policy,” should probably be rephrased to say, “I have to die for me to enjoy the benefits of a life insurance policy.”

But even this is not the case, and the following is an example of how you, still alive, can enjoy the benefits of a life insurance contract.

Let’s say you had an Uncle named Harry, who was up in years, in poor health, and you received a letter from him indicating he was planning on leaving you $1 million dollars when he died. In your own planning for retirement, you decided you could live on $5,000 per month. However, now that you received this letter from your now favorite uncle, your idea now is to live on $7,500 per month, knowing that the check from Uncle Harry would be available sometime soon. You accelerated your retirement income while you were alive, and enjoyed your retirement years with your loved ones, knowing that a windfall of money was forthcoming.

Now most of us do not have an Uncle Harry, but most of us do have the opportunity to create that windfall of money through a life insurance contract. Knowing that this money would be available at your death, you have the ticket to spend more now, while you are still living.  And the biggest difference between Uncle Harry’s check and a life insurance policy check is that, under most circumstances, the life insurance death benefit would have no taxes or interference from Uncle Sam. So you don’t have to die to beat the life contract; it affords you the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of life, knowing loved ones will be taken care of when you’re gone.

Taking this example to another level for those who have a pension plan (KPERS would be a good example), your life insurance coverage should be taken into consideration when you pick an option with your pension plan. Most people who are married automatically pick a joint option that allows them to receive a benefit, but if they die, allows their spouse to receive a benefit, also.

Many times people say that they do not believe in life insurance and then they pick a joint option with their pension plan.  Ladies and gentlemen, you just purchased a life insurance policy-a very expensive one. Allow this to be explained to you:  Let’s suppose that the maximum benefit option (life only) pays $2000 per month. This is a benefit only for you, and when you die, it’s over. This leads many married employees to opt for the joint option. In this example it pays $1500 per month, with the understanding that if you die, your spouse will get the same $1500 per month. So the cost to provide a benefit for your spouse when you die is $500 per month. That $500 difference per month is actually a premium paying for a benefit when you die. That is life insurance. Only the screening for this is minimal. (Normally, you and your spouse’s dates of birth, your salary, and years of service is all that’s required).  If the screening is minimal, imagine what the rates for the life insurance would be?

Because every situation is different and there are many factors that enter into this decision, (e.g. health, mortality history, etc.) it would certainly be worth visiting with your advisor to see how your pension plan and life insurance coverage can work together toward a successful retirement.

Tim Schumacher represents Strategic Financial Partners in Hays. [email protected]

We’ve all heard these words before. We’ve heard them said at the elevator, the grocery story, the local café, church and just about everywhere else in rural Kansas.

I heard them for the first time in years at a local Co-op in the southwestern part of our state. They were uttered by an articulate, bright young man.

When asked for his name, he cheerfully told me. When asked his occupation, the man dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt and seed cap looked down at his boots, well-worn and nicked and replied softly, “Just a farmer.”

Just a farmer.

With those three words, he revealed his uncertainty about the value of his profession. As if because of his occupation, his comments wouldn’t count.

There is no such occupation as, “Just a farmer.” In Kansas and other states across our country, farming is a proud and cherished lifestyle. It is also the number one business in Kansas.

Farmers are responsible for the food we buy in our grocery stores and serve to our families each day.

Kansas farmers sow more than seeds in the ground – they establish the roots that anchor our communities. They also supply many other items from their farms that are used in our nation’s industry.

Travel through rural Kansas, and you’ll meet and talk to farmers and ranchers who not only care about their land but the towns where they live. They not only work to grow crops and livestock, but to make their communities a better place to live.

Without question, rural communities thrive and prosper when farmers/ ranchers and community businesses work together for the common good. Probably the single greatest roadblock for success and growth in any community is a lack of organized leadership with vision and the determination to implement forward thinking. Fortunately, Kansans and Kansas farmers and ranchers have always adhered to a “can do” attitude.

We continue to build on a long and proud heritage of self-help and self-responsibility by investing in our farms, ranches, businesses, communities and the people we employ. We believe our communities and our way of life can continue to be a part of a livable frontier – a community and state of mind where there is always room to grow and prosper.

And when weather calamities devastate a region of our state, people pull together and help one another survive while looking to better times ahead.

Yes, as I have always said, “No one is ‘just’ a farmer, teacher, mailman, lawyer or grocer. Everyone is important, especially the Kansas farmer and rancher when it comes to putting the most nutritious, abundant food on our kitchen tables.”

Stand up, revel in your vocation. Be proud. Providing food, fuel and fiber for the people of this world is without a doubt, the most noble profession one can be a part of.

So, the next time you’re asked what is your profession, you might consider responding like this: “Yes, I’m a farmer stockman and there’s nothing I’d rather be. There’s not a better place I’d rather live, work and raise my family. My vocation involves helping feed the world and I have dedicated my life to doing so.”

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

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

What better place is there than the Wheat State to host the National Festival of Breads? Thanks to some visionary wheat farmers from years ago and a hard-working crew of volunteers and staff, a national festival which celebrates bread-baking is being held in Kansas.

Cindy Falk and Julene DeRouchey are co-directors of the National Festival of Breads. Cindy is nutrition educator at the Kansas Wheat Commission and Julene is her assistant. Coincidentally, they are both Pottawatomie County farm girls who grew up presenting cooking demonstrations in 4-H. Julene grew up on a farm near Wamego and Cindy grew up on a farm south of Onaga, a rural community of 702 people. Now, that’s rural.

“The credit for the beginning of this should go to the Kansas Wheathearts, which was the women’s auxiliary of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers,” Cindy Falk said. In 1990, these women wanted to have a baking contest to promote wheat, the source of bread flour. Cindy, then a part-time staff person for the Kansas Wheat Commission, attended the initial planning meeting. The first year’s baking contest went so well that it became an ongoing event under the auspices of what is now Kansas Wheat. Cindy has been involved ever since.

In 2009, the farmer-members of the Kansas Wheat Commission made a strategic decision to elevate the biennial contest to a national competition. This was a big step. It meant promoting the contest nationally and gaining sponsorships from national brands such as King Arthur Flour and Red Star Yeast.

The competition begins with a call for entries from home-based bread bakers (not commercial bakeries) across the nation. For the 2017 competition, more than 300 entries were submitted from virtually every state from California to Florida. There is a youth division and then four categories in the adult division: Time-saving/simple breads, holiday breads, rolls, and whole grain breads.

Entries are evaluated and the top tier is test-baked. These entries go through four rounds of judging from which eight adult finalists are selected. Those eight will compete in-person at the National Festival of Breads in Manhattan, Kansas on June 17, 2017.

In addition to Kansas Wheat, the 2017 competition is sponsored by producer-supported groups such as the Kansas Soybean and Corn commissions plus Kansas Pork Association, Kansas Farm Bureau, and Kansas Agri-Women. There are commercial sponsors such as Hy-Vee, John Deere, and others.

“We keep adding activities to the festival,” Cindy said. On the Friday before the festival, finalists and guests will tour a Kansas flour mill, have lunch on a Kansas wheat farm and ride in a combine to harvest wheat. They will return to the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center to learn about wheat research. A pasta dinner is that night.

Early Saturday morning, the Wheat Foods Council will sponsor a 5K race and one mile fun run. Beginning at 8:30, the public is invited to the festival. Admission is free although a donation of a non-perishable food item is encouraged. The eight finalists will have seven hours to mix, shape, rise, and bake their award-winning yeast breads and will speak briefly to the judges. Entries are evaluated on flavor, texture, shape, nutrition, and creativity.

There is also a People’s Choice award where the public votes by placing money in their favorite’s jars, with all the proceeds going to the Flint Hills Breadbasket. New recipes, baking and BBQ demonstrations, door prizes and a children’s area will be available during the day. On Saturday night, Cindy and Julene will reveal the national champion bread entry by lifting the cover on a – what else? – breadbox.

“Julene and I have an army of volunteers which help put this on,” Cindy said. “We could not do this without the help of our Kansas Wheat Commission spokespersons and county extension agents across the state.” For more information, go to www.nationalfestivalofbreads.com.

What better place is there than the Wheat State to host the National Festival of Breads? We salute Cindy Falk, Julene DeRouchey, and all those involved with this event for making a difference by promoting bread-baking and wheat utilization. They are helping to improve our daily bread.

Most families keep their black sheep a deep, dark secret. Following this unwritten code in the late 1880s and early 90s, Eva Whipple, sister of the notorious Daltons, didn’t announce to fellow residents of Meade, Kansas that her brothers robbed banks for a living.

However, a hidden tunnel between her house and nearby barn supports the theory her outlaw relations secretly visited her. Apparently, citizens of this little Southwest Kansas town on Highway 54 didn’t know about the connection with these infamous characters until the Whipples moved and the home’s new occupant discovered a hand dug, three-foot diameter secret passage, just big enough for grown men to crawl through. It conveniently linked house and barn.

During the Works Progress Administration, an administrative entrepreneur-at-heart arranged to stabilize and expand this shaft, so paying tourists could walk where the Dalton Gang once crawled. It worked. My cousins, brother, I, and every other kid visiting Meade finagled a dime, quarter, or dollar (depending on the decade) in order to tour the small Victorian era home with gingerbread trim, heavy drapes, and carved furniture. The best part came when visitors trailed their fingers over damp, dimly lighted stone walls through the improved tunnel to the old barn. Renovators had turned the floor above the ancient horse stalls into a museum showcasing pioneer era Meade. Sounds of awe and delight announced that kids had discovered the stuffed two-headed, newborn calf display.

Even today, my relatives and I fondly recall good times on the south side of town. It was close enough to Grandma’s we could walk. She directed us to behave ourselves or she’d hear about it. I’d visited often enough to know this rural community kept no secrets after revealing the Dalton’s hidden passage. Keeping my hands to myself, I walked on the sidewalk where possible and didn’t smart mouth anyone along the way. I paid my fee and responded politely to a local, retired woman dressed in a long pioneer dress to set the mood.

Recently, I reviewed Meade, Kansas on Trip Advisor. Not surprisingly, Highway 54 travelers still visit The Dalton Gang Hideout. Most report excellent or very good ratings. It’s wonderful to know adults and children still find their way to that little house with a big yard. It’s fussy furnishings counterbalance that trip into the tunnel where every sense goes on alert.

Nostrils still quiver at earthy scents as shoulders brush rough, stone walls. Tall people must duck to complete their journey. Naturally, imaginations picture outlaws with bandanna covered faces and whinnying horses waiting to speed their escape at the end of the passage.

If the Dalton brothers actually used this tunnel when it was merely three feet high and carved dirt, I suspect they worried more about a cave in than getting caught visiting their sis. Nowadays, a ticket to see that two headed calf lightens wallets considerably more than it did when I was a youngster. Today’s visitors shell out a whopping 5 bucks to navigate the tunnel and examine that oddly formed calf. I bet the Dalton boys wish they’d raked in that kind of loot.

Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

Baker Hughes reported 916 active oil and gas drilling rigs last week, an increase on 11 rigs looking for oil and a drop of five rigs targeting natural gas. There were 99 active rigs in Canada, up six for the week. Independent Oil & Gas Service tells us there were 15 active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, up three, and 21 in western Kansas, which is down two. Operators report drilling ahead at sites in Barton, Russell and Stafford County. They’ve moving in completion tools and testing at four sites in Barton County, and one each in Russell and Stafford Counties.

The Kansas Corporation Commission reported 139 intent-to-drill notices filed across the state in the month of May and 640 so far this year. That’s above last year’s total through May, 2016 of 444 intents, but well below the total of 1,056 two years ago at this time.

There were 19 permits filed for drilling in new locations across Kansas, 603 year-to-date. Five of those were east of Wichita, and of the 14 in western Kansas. There was one new permit in Barton County, one in Ellis County, and four new permits in Stafford County.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 19 new well completions across Kansas last week, 580 so far this year. There were four new completions in eastern Kansas and 15 west of Wichita including one dry hole in Russell County and one producing well in Stafford County.

A Kansas energy company said it’s going to build a new oil terminal in eastern Colorado. Tallgrass Energy Partners will develop the Tallgrass Grasslands oil terminal complex in Platteville for an undisclosed amount of investment money. The terminal will serve as a new pipeline origin for the Pony Express Platteville Extension pipleine to Cushing. Tallgrass said the Platteville Extension is expected to have an ultimate takeaway capacity of at least 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day and go into service next year.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners announced that the 1,200-mile pipeline carrying North Dakota crude oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point in Illinois had begun commercial service. The Dakota Access pipeline and ETP’s pipeline from Illinois to the Gulf Coast together have commitments for about 520,000 barrels of oil daily.

Two officials with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe were acquitted of disorderly conduct charges that were filed during early protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. They were arrested on Aug. 12 for allegedly pushing back against a line of law enforcement officers in North Dakota. During their trial, both men said they were only trying to protect older tribal members. Jurors quickly returned not-guilty verdicts.

Some North Dakota cities near the oil patch are seeing a drop in residents as the state’s overall population continues to rise. State census director Kevin Iverson said the drop mostly is due to young, adult males moving on as job and wage situations change because of slower activity in the oil fields. The state population rose 19.2% from a year earlier, but oil patch cities such as Tioga, Minot, Williston, Watford City and Stanley saw population declines.

This is the week — presumably (hopefully?) the last week of the regular legislative session of 2017 — when we learn which legislators, and what part of a majority of a quorum of the Legislature, are willing to settle for less than they wanted.

And, we’re also going to learn just how far ahead lawmakers are thinking about their futures.

Here’s the key.

To get out of this session and back home, it’s clear that income taxes are going to have to be raised. Now, many legislators would quickly re-impose Kansas income tax on that non-wage income of owners of Limited Liability Corporations and the other business organizations that don’t currently pay a dime of taxes on their firms’ profits.

Well, maybe “not a dime,” but whatever it costs to mail in that tax form that says, “not a dime.” Still a good deal.

But just those LLCs, that have become so near-universally disliked that we’re still surprised the LLC owners don’t have to wear a “tax-free” tattoo on their necks for all to see, won’t raise enough money to finance the state budget in the next few years, especially with a new school finance formula brewing under court order.

There’s a small number of members of the House and Senate who don’t want to tax those LLCs. Not enough of them to pass or kill a bill, but enough to make reaching 84 votes in the House and 27 votes in the Senate difficult, which means they can demand something or other to hold their noses and vote for a bill with an LLC tax in it.

And, yes, we’re talking 84 and 27 votes, not the simple 63 in the House and 21 in the Senate needed to pass a bill because most believe that Gov. Sam Brownback will veto a tax bill that raises enough money to represent a two-year fix for shrinking state revenues, and those numbers are necessary to override a veto and put the measure into law.

So, it’s likely what’s possible this year, and that thinking about the future, become key because all 125 members of the House stand for election first in August, then November, of 2018. Senators? They get to sit home and read the newspapers; their next election year doesn’t come until 2020.

The best possible tactic for getting out of the Statehouse for House members is to do the truly heavy lifting of raising income taxes in the next few days. That pencils out at the ballot box next year because by that time taxes have been increased, those LLC owners are re-learning to write checks to the account of “State of Kansas,” and everyone has griped. This year’s taxes will have become part of the general culture of the state.

Griping over taxes will probably wane slightly after next April and voters are going to be resigned to writing checks…but they aren’t going to be interested in taking another tax hike which would be passed in the spring of the House next (election) year. Whatever inconveniencing of taxpayers/voters is necessary next year because of legislative scrapping this year will be remembered. Count on it. And, it will be remembered and inflamed at August primary elections for Republican House members and at the general election for everyone.

So, we’re going to see just how lawmakers—especially House members who want to return to the Statehouse in 2018—handle this. Get all the tax increase they think they are going to need to last them past the next election? Or just a dab to get out of the Statehouse this week, with a possible return for a special session if the Kansas Supreme Court decides that they didn’t adequately finance K-12 education in public schools for the future, or at least the two upcoming school years?

Might be interesting…

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

Some friends recently asked me to help them figure out what was messing with some mouse and rat bait stations they had around the outside of their shop. These are boxes about half the size of a shoe box that contain rat poison and have a small door in one side just big enough for a large field mouse to crawl through. Most mornings they were finding one or more of the boxes tossed out into the yard, evidently by something searching for a midnight snack because of the smell of mice inside them. I put up a trail camera to try to catch a glimpse of the marauder. My nieces also asked me to put up a trail camera overlooking their garden to try to see what has been nibbling off their young cantaloupe plants during the night. All that, and the pesky robins have been going berserk here this week dive bombing anything that moves, evidently in support of fledging chicks. It all takes me back to my high school FFA days when we had pest hunts.

The pest hunting game plan was fairly straightforward. We were all farm kids so mice and rats were killed as we saw them around the barn. We were also hunters and trappers so possums were found squashed along the road or caught in our coon’ traps. We saved the tails from possums, skunks, rats and mice and the heads from pigeons and starlings, and each carried a certain amount of points. At the end of the two or three month contest, the team with the most points won. Bird hunting gigs were the trickiest. Most barns where I grew up were three or four stories tall with hay lofts on each end. There was always a window high in each end of the barn with a ladder running up the inside wall to the window. One hunter would climb each ladder up to the window, turn around and prepare to swat birds as they headed toward the window, all the while somehow holding onto the ladder for dear life. Clubs ranged from badminton rackets to scrap boards with handles nailed to them. And if that wasn’t already hazardous enough, it was all done in the dead of night. 

We’d all converge on an old barn well after ten o’clock or so, and since it was winter everyone was dressed in old army jackets and mud boots, except the designated “swatters” at the top of the ladders, who had to dress warmly but in clothing that fit loosely around the shoulders so as not to impede their swing. Once the climbing swatters were in place, the rest of the group on the floor would turn on lights and make as much noise as possible, attempting to roust any birds roosted inside, which would inevitably head for the windows, now guarded by the “swatters.”  Snipers (with pellet guns) would begin picking off any drowsy birds still clinging to their perches after the melee began.

Meanwhile, at the tops of the ladders, the action could be fast and furious as startled pigeons and starlings tried to fly out the windows. For starters you only had one hand available to swat as the other was rather busy holding onto a rickety old ladder that you just hoped would not crumble into pieces and dump you into the hay below. These were still the days of small square bales of hay and straw which might have been only a few feet below you, or twenty feet below you depending on how much the farmer had used already. It was pretty dark up there, and with birds often coming at you several at a time, it was impossible to swat them all. The ones you missed either flew around, coming back for a second try, or just hit you in the face from the get-go. In the midst of the assault it could be raining dead pigeon and starling carcasses down on the floor and it wasn’t out of the question to get whacked up side the noggin with one if you were down there. We always tried to make sure the guys on the ground with the pellet guns were the most even-tempered of the group, thereby lessening the chance that one of the guys on the ladders would get shot in the butt for inadvertently beaning someone with a dead bird.

After all the pests were vanquished from a barn, out came the flashlights and it was time to collect the spoils. We’d collect all the bird’s heads, stuff em’ into a bag and go on down the road to the next barn, leaving the neighborhood barn cats quite a feast indeed for allowing us to invade their territory.

  How many times have you looked back upon crazy things you did as a kid and wondered how in blazes you ever survived past the age of nine? Every time I drive past a tall barn with windows in each end I stare up at the windows and ask myself “Did we really used to do that?” Well, I’ve lived well past the age of nine and another part of me has to wonder if the world would be a better place today if we just had more pest hunts. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

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