Senate GOP plan an election-year conversion?

It’s good that 26 GOP state senators and candidates now acknowledge that “Kansas is on the wrong track.” And that they now seem at least somewhat open to changing direction on state tax policies.

But a plan they unveiled last week smacks of an election-year conversion.

After all, many of these incumbents not only set Kansas on its current track, they stubbornly refused to admit their policies weren’t working, despite the clear evidence.

It wasn’t until conservative Republicans suffered major defeats in the August primary that many of them suddenly saw the light.

Still, good for them if they sincerely listened to voters and are now ready to work toward balanced solutions to pressing state problems.

The Republican Senatorial Committee released last week a “Plan for a Better Kansas.” It states that “business as usual is not working for Kansas and change is needed,” and it calls for taking “a hard look at government spending, the current tax system, and economic growth.”

Tax policy could be the biggest shift, though that’s not entirely clear. The plan argues for “a system of taxation that is fair to all,” noting that “some currently do not pay any taxes while others who do the same job are taxed unfairly.”

That’s a vague reference to a signature feature of the 2012 tax cuts: the tax exemption for pass-through business income.

But in a meeting Friday at The Eagle, Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, wouldn’t say whether she favors repealing the exemption. She also said that some of the GOP senators who endorsed the plan “don’t want to do a darn thing” about the exemption.

The plan also calls for “an education system that makes sure every classroom around the state receives the funding they need to provide a high quality education.” That’s a welcome change from the hostility some of these lawmakers have directed toward educators and increased school funding.

However, the plan also claims that the education funding system is broken. Most educators would argue that the previous funding system – which many these lawmakers and Gov. Sam Brownback scrapped – was, on balance, fair and responsive. The problem was the Legislature’s refusal to adequately fund it.

The plan also expresses a commitment to restoring the state’s cash reserves, which are supposed to be 7.5 percent of expenditures. Brownback and the Legislature spent those reserves (and about $1.3 billion in highway funds) trying to cover the revenue lost from their tax cuts.

The plan says it is “based on a return to bedrock Kansas commonsense principles of governing that have served our state well for generations.” But it was this governor and many of these lawmakers who departed from those principles and set Kansas on the “wrong track.”

They now seem to be admitting the error of their ways. But voters should question whether the conversion is real and whether the people who created the mess can now be trusted to clean it up.

This story was originally published October 9, 2016 at 5:05 AM with the headline "Senate GOP plan an election-year conversion?."