Posted on Mon, Nov. 09, 2009

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Kansas Views

Tax increase —No one wants to see taxes raised or restored, but neither can the state afford to cripple important budget areas that may help lead it out of the current recession. Economic development efforts are still vital, as is maintaining the quality of the state's public schools and higher education system. Providing some level of service to people who are struggling in the current economy is both humane and an investment in the state's safety and security. The challenge, of course, is to balance the state's financial needs against the taxpayers' needs. We can't afford to cripple state government, but we also can't afford to pass taxes that will cripple businesses that provide tax revenue and jobs in the state.— Lawrence Journal-World

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What is most needed in the halls of the Kansas Capitol is a change in attitude. Rather than starting from the assumption that Kansas government must go backward, GOP leaders should wake up tomorrow morning determined to create the best combination of tax adjustments their keen minds can craft to meet the basic needs of Kansans. That is what their oath of office requires of them.— Iola Register

Wittig trial — Well, here we go again. Another trial for former Westar Energy executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake appears to be on the way. Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson to schedule a date to try Wittig and Lake for a third time in what authorities claim was a conspiracy to loot the company. Two previous rounds of trial and appeal ended with the prosecution failing to make any charges stick. Now comes Wittig-Lake III, which sounds like a Hollywood sequel. Unfortunately, it also feels like many sequels — old, tired and quite possibly a waste of time and money.— Topeka Capital-Journal

Tax cap — A Kansas think tank's idea to control the growth of property taxes isn't crazy — it is, in fact, a good idea, just probably too inflexible. The Wichita-based Flint Hills Center for Public Policy, having not had much luck on a proposal to cap property-valuation increases, now instead is attacking local government mill levies. Flint Hills proposes that local governments be forced to lower their mill levies by the same percentage that overall property values rise. It is a good idea because too often — almost universally, it seems — county commissions and city councils make it their goal only to maintain their mill levies. That in effect is a property-tax increase when home and property values are rising. Local governments need to get the message that maintaining the mill levy isn't the same as maintaining property taxes.— Hutchinson News

Glickman — Dan Glickman could do the Kansas Democratic Party a lot of good. And he could do Kansas a lot of good if he became the state's governor, or perhaps one of its United States senators. Our suggestion to Glickman is that he return to Kansas and seek the chairmanship of the state Democratic Party. —Winfield Daily Courier

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