By the numbers: Does the ‘march to zero’ make sense for our state?

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 21 February 2012 15:44

We’ve been fed numbers from those supporting a “march to zero” on income tax, suggesting the move­ment is essential for Kansas’ economic growth. Here’s a host of facts for you to digest this week that seem to suggest otherwise. You can decide for yourself how Kansas compares with other states in a number of categories.

How does Kansas compare with the no-income-tax states in economic growth? Consider these areas (results are expressed in percentages unless otherwise noted):

• Change in real per-capita gross domestic product from 1997-2009:

Kansas, 18.8

Alaska, 5.4

Florida, 13.5

Nevada, 1.6

New Hampshire, 20.5

South Dakota, 47.6

Tennessee, 5.1

Texas, 12.6

Washington, 16.5

Wyoming, 52.2

• Residential real estate...

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District 70 grows in geography with passage of new redistricting map

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 14 February 2012 16:03

The House passed its redistricting map. The 70th District will retain all its former territory and gain Hope, Solomon, Elmo and surrounding townships in western and southern Dickinson County.

I look forward to meeting and talking to the good folks of Dickinson County, in addition to those in Butler, Chase and Marion Counties. I hope to have community meetings throughout the new District this winter/spring.

In this column last week, I said I believed that none of the proposed U.S. congressional maps affected Butler, Chase or Marion counties. I can still say no map is expected to affect Dickinson, Chase or Butler. I have discovered there is a map floating around that proposes to move all of Marion County into the Fourth District, which...

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Water rights, swine and redistricting top agenda

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 07 February 2012 18:33

During this past week, the House of Represent­atives passed a bill to eliminate “use-it-or-lose-it” for water rights in areas where water is in short supply and is closed to drilling new wells.

Currently, a person must pump water for irrigation or other purposes at least every five years, whether the water is needed or not, or risk losing the right to use it later.

We hope this change in policy will encourage conservation in dry parts of Kansas, particularly in the area using the Ogallala Aquifer. It does not impact us in central Kansas; our water sufficiency did not indicate a need for this change, and we can watch how this bill works before considering other changes.

We also passed a bill modifying the method to allow swine...

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Here’s my stand on the governor’s tax proposal

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 31 January 2012 14:58

The past two weeks I have written about tax issues. I said in my column last week I would emphasize this week what I’m for, so here goes. In a policy statement on “The Brownback Pro-Growth Plan,” Gov. Brownback mentions five principles guiding his proposals:

(1) Taxes at the federal, state and local levels are a complicated hodge-podge of taxes, credits and special interests cobbled together through the years. He says we must streamline and modernize tax policy to fund core government functions, emphasizing business growth and encourages greater financial investment in Kansas. I totally agree.

(2) The Kansas tax code is complicated; it picks too many winners and losers; it attempts too much social engineering. The code should be...

Read more: Here’s my stand on the governor’s tax proposal