Fact check: ‘No’ campaign ad on sales tax misleading

Some statements in mailers and other promotional material from the Coalition for a Better Wichita, which is against the proposed 1-cent-on-the-dollar city sales tax, are misleading.

Campaign materials, including a mailer from the coalition, state that the measure, which will be on the Nov. 4 ballot, is “a tax with no plan.”

The city has released details about the plan for months. The details have been available to voters through The Eagle and other media coverage as well as on the city’s website at www.wichita.gov/salestax.

Coalition spokeswoman Jennifer Baysinger refused an interview with The Eagle about the campaign’s claims.

A flier from the coalition is correct in saying the tax is “an increase of almost 14 percent in taxes on nearly everything you buy.” That’s based on the percent change from the current 7.15 percent state and county tax to the 8.15 percent tax if the city sales tax passes, which is 14 percent.

But the flier is misleading when it states that the sales tax “will cost the average family of four $1,200.” It doesn’t make clear that that cost is over five years. It also does not specify whether that amount is the new tax alone or is closer to the total amount Wichita families already spend in sales tax, according to adjusted 2012 IRS data.

Another mailer paid for by Americans for Prosperity says the tax “will cost the average Wichita household $1,200 over the life of the tax” but does not make clear whether that is a total or is in addition to what a family spends in sales tax over five years.

The Eagle recently reported that the average family of four making between $40,000 and $50,000 a year would see an estimated increase in sales tax of $161 each year, bringing the estimated total they would spend on sales tax each year to $1,315, using adjusted IRS data.

Wichita’s median household income from 2008 to 2012 was $46,218, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Over five years, the total is an $805 increase in sales tax for a family of four in that income bracket.

In an e-mail, Baysinger said the campaign had gotten its calculation from a Kansas Policy Institute blog post.

This story was originally published October 30, 2014 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Fact check: ‘No’ campaign ad on sales tax misleading."