Hensley is a patriot, a Joe Biden patriot

Sen. Anthony Hensley is a patriot. A Joe Biden patriot.

Hensley spouted the party line in a Kansas City Star article yesterday. Don't you know the budget problem has been caused by the state not getting enough of the money it's owed rather than legislators like Hensley spending too much?

Hensley told the paper that the Legislature has approved $6.7 billion in tax cuts to businesses from 1995 to 2005. Funny, that sounds a lot like the numbers cited by Steve Rose. Are they talking about the same study? Who knows.

Either way they both have the same problem. Did the study also look at tax increases during the same period? I seriously doubt it. During that same period, sales taxes were increased, property taxes went up, cigarette taxes increased, income taxes increased. The list goes on and on.

And just for good measure, Hensley says that unemployment taxes went down too, so that means businesses shouldn't have a problem giving more money to the government to waste. Sure, that makes sense. After all, if the state had collected more unemployment insurance premiums, that money could be used for... oh... wait. It could be used for unemployment benefits. That's it. So what's the point again???

Hensley believes that the government is entitled to your money before you are, plain and simple. Apparently the Star believes that as well.

The federal government has accelerated depreciation to encourage businesses to buy equipment. The state currently uses the federal depreciation formula for state taxes. By not going to an accelerated depreciation schedule, the state could save about $40 million.

Gee, I didn't realize that by hiking taxes on businesses the state could save money. It seems to me that by hiking taxes the state could take more money. But save? No, the state could save more money by spending less money. That's how you save. Savings, by definition, is not taking more money from the people.

Hensley and Democrats just have a completely different thought process. The government is entitled to whatever you have before you are. It's just that simple.

Homegrown leadership

Quite an interesting letter to the editor in the Hutchinson News today. Titled "Homegrown leadership," the author advocates rejection of Rob Wasinger and Tracey Mann because of their carpetbagging tendencies. Donald Hobson writes:

It is interesting to note that two political opportunists have recently moved their voter registration to Kansas's 1st Congressional District to pursue a U.S. congressional seat.

Rob Wasinger, a Harvard graduate still owning a nearly $900K house in Virginia, moved to Hays in late 2008 and has since retreated to and now resides in Cottonwood Falls. The second hopeful import is Tracey Mann, a Johnson County commercial real estate agent who just established residency in Salina.

Here's the best part:

Kansans, now is not the time to trust the judgment from two men who have moved into the 1st District to launch a political career. From being raised in Plainville to listening to constituents in the Kansas Senate, Congressman Moran understood issues facing western Kansas before he ran for Congress. Now is the time to support a person whose roots run deep into the 1st Congressional District landscape and who will not bow to eastern interests.

When I read it through the first time, I kept trying to figure out who he was going to endorse over Wasinger and Mann. The fact that he doesn't even remotely point to a candidate he prefers is quite telling. Residency problems are interesting to me now, but in over a year when people are finally getting around to deciding who they'll vote for, will it be an issue anymore? For some I thought it'd come up, but I didn't think it'd be enough to make that big of a difference in the overall results. Now with five candidates in the race and more probably on the way, this "you're not one of us" attitude may make more of a difference than I previously thought.

Also, did you note that last line of resentment for 'easterners?' That attitude certainly exists, and it's going to be tough for someone from Johnson County, little lone from Massachusetts, to overcome that barrier.

Budget battle heating up this week

The Legislature returns Wednesday for its wrap up session where they'll have to trim over $330 million from the budget. Democrats and some moderate Republicans are pushing hard for every kind of "revenue enhancement" (aka "tax increase") they can think of without calling for an across the board income, sales or property tax increase.

$330 million is about 2.5% of the $13 billion budget. That's certainly nothing to sneeze at. If the $13 billion budget was instead a $50,000 a year income, a 2.5% cut would be $1,250. A noticeable cut, but one that would certainly be possible.

The other number that is being left out of the budget conversation is how much spending has increased since 2004. That would be 48% according to Americans for Prosperity - Kansas.

So to put that in perspective, that would be like a family spending $26,000 a year and then four years later spending $50,000 a year. Now, would it be possible for them to cut a measly $1,250 after nearly doubling spending over just four short years? I'd hope so.