Kansas governor says he’ll sign sales tax increase by end of the month

Kan. gov. to sign sales tax increase this month

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Mark Parkinson said Tuesday that he will sign by the end of the month the increase in the state sales tax that the Legislature approved to protect public schools and government services from cuts.

The measure boosts the sales tax from 5.3 percent to 6.3 percent, meaning consumers will pay more for groceries and other items beginning July 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year.

Increasing the sales tax balances a $13.7 billion budget. The spending plan for the next fiscal year, also approved by bipartisan majorities, protects aid to public schools and government programs from cuts — a key goal for the Democratic governor.

“State government helps the 6-year-old who’s in the first grade,” Parkinson told House Democrats during an afternoon caucus meeting. “Her schools are going down. You saved them last night.”

Parkinson had pushed for higher taxes and had told the Republican-controlled Legislature that he wouldn’t accept significant budget cuts after multiple rounds last year.

The tax bill, which is expected to raise $314 million during the next fiscal year, finally was approved by the House early Tuesday, 64-61. Members kept voting open for more than four hours, as a few votes switched back and forth, making the outcome uncertain. The Senate already had passed the measure.

With that settled, legislators wrapped up their business Tuesday, their 89th day in session, one short of what their leaders had scheduled.

Parkinson noted that Kansas’ sales tax will remain at 6.3 percent through June 2013, then drop to 5.7 percent, with some of the remaining revenues diverted to highway projects.

Democrats and moderate Republicans in both chambers had agreed with Parkinson that additional reductions would be crippling. They drafted both the proposed budget and the bill raising the sales tax. But conservative Republicans argued that raising taxes wasn’t necessary, would hurt working families and would keep the state’s economy in a recession longer.

House GOP leaders, conservatives who opposed raising taxes, said the potential damage to schools and government programs was greatly overstated by supporters of a tax increase.

“I think we’re taxed enough,” said Rep. Joe Patton, a Topeka Republican. “In this debate, the taxpayer has become the forgotten person.”

The closeness of the House reflected some Republicans’ struggle with raising taxes.

“The moderate Republicans that voted for the budget and the revenue package did the state an enormous favor,” Parkinson said.

The tax bill initially appeared to be failing Monday night, but supporters forced the House to keep the voting open and wait for missing members to return. That gave the bill’s backers a chance to work on colleagues by phone.

The tally shifted to 63-61 in favor, with only Rep. Virgil Peck absent. Peck, a Tyro Republican who opposed the bill, was at home, 150 miles away, attending to business and personal matters.

Opponents of the tax hike then forced the voting to remain open in hopes of switching votes back.

Peck, who said he’d been told by other Republicans that supporters of a tax increase had more than enough votes and he wouldn’t be needed, sped back to Topeka.

He voted “no,” but vote switching continued. The last to switch — to “yes” — was Rep. Bill Otto, a LeRoy Republican, who said had wanted other choices, such as raising income taxes or even expanding legalized gambling.

“I just saw no end game,” he said later Tuesday, explaining his switch. “I didn’t like it.”

On Monday, House Republican leaders backed off a plan that would have reduced aid to public schools in favor of one that would have raised the necessary money by selling unused state buildings, land and other property.

“We tried to be responsible but were ignored,” said Rep. Peggy Mast, an Emporia Republican.

Sales tax increase is Senate Sub for HB 2360. Proposed budget is House Sub for SB 572.

On the Net:

Kansas Legislature: www.kslegislature.org

Kansas governor: www.governor.ks.gov