Kansas is in crisis. An affordability crisis that threatens our ability to recruit new business and grow our economy.
Kansas taxes are out of control. Our sales tax on food is highest in the country. Our electric rates threaten rural prosperity and growth. Simply put our state is not looking towards future growth but rather more ways to take money out of your wallets.
The good news is there are leaders in Topeka who believe that your money belongs to you not to the state government. These leaders have put forward common sense ideas to return money to your wallet. At the same time our governor has taken the opposite approach and wants to take more money from your wallet.
Our leaders need to address the fundamental aspects to this affordability crisis and one of the keys is proper government management to deliver efficiency to state government to reduce our budget. By reducing our budget and making government more efficient, we can reduce taxes and return money to you.
When I ran for lieutenant governor in 2018, one of the most common things I heard was, what can we do to reduce our taxes and reduce bureaucracy in Kansas. People want to see an efficient state government that work. They want to be able to interact with state government to get their business and move on. They want lower taxes and know efficient state government is a key.
With President Biden and his congressional allies looking to deliver another tax hike in Washington we need lower state now more than ever.
Our sales tax on food makes no sense. We need to reduce these taxes because food is a basic need. This is a key part of the affordability crisis that plagues our state.
The crisis caused by the sales tax on food is more compounded in Kansas’ border communities. What incentive do Kansas residents in border towns have to buy their groceries in Kansas when they can spend less money in Missouri or Colorado? They have none!
This harms businesses in our border towns and costs jobs for Kansans.
Our electricity rates need to be addressed. The high electric rates in Kansas hurts people across our state but has an acute harm on our rural communities. Rural Kansans are paying some of the highest electric rates in the country with no end in sight.
These high electric rates are part of the things that are holding back growth of Kansas’ rural economy. Our farmers, ranchers and rural businesses need lower electric rates to grow business. Coupled with rural broadband investments, lower taxes and more promotion of rural Kansas, and we can grow this part of the state.
Kansas can be more affordable. We can be the envy of the nation for being a well-run and efficient state with low taxes. We can be the destination state for businesses across our country. This is the vision we need in our state.
Wink Hartman is the CEO of the Hartman Group of Companies in Wichita and was the 2018 Republican nominee for lieutenant governor.