Opinion Line (May 17)

The students of Kansas should require the governor and the members of the Legislature to take financial literacy training.

Our school districts have used bond money to prioritize tennis courts over technology labs, benefiting very few students.

Not a day goes by that you don’t see an article published in the paper about the budget crunch school districts are facing. But never is there anything mentioned about cutting the athletic budget. Now wouldn’t that be the end of the world?

The biggest deterrent to business growth in Kansas is in session in Topeka. Business owners hate unpredictability and uncertainty, and that’s what’s coming out of the Statehouse every day it’s in session. Too much change too fast equals no confidence and no growth. Anyone know what will be happening next?

Are Kansas legislators out of their minds? By continually driving up sales taxes, they are driving the mom-and-pop stores out of business. People already shop online or go out of state for their purchases, especially large items. So much for helping the job creators.

The tax laws are complex because legislators use them to create arbitrary distinctions between taxpayers. This year they want to reward only “job creators” who hire employees, while ignoring the contribution of sole proprietors who create jobs for other sole proprietors. The tax laws should apply equally to all.

“If we can just get more,” they cry, endlessly. Yes, “if we can just get more” of other people’s hard-earned money from the politicians who give it willingly (to buy votes), then “we” (you choose: children, students, citizens, mothers, fathers, workers, leaders) will be better. “If we can just get more.”

No one denies that giving 330,000 businesses a free pass on taxes caused the budget problem. But the proposed fix – that my neighbors and I have to cover their share – lacks common sense.

Taking away the spending power of citizens through sales and property tax increases to pay for Gov. Sam Brownback’s experiment is bound to hurt the businesses currently benefiting from tax elimination.

Another $400 million shouldn’t be hard to come by. Just have Brownback borrow it from his buddy Jeff Colyer.

To reduce the state budget deficit, reduce by 50 percent the number of state legislators. With the use of technology, they should be able to cover a larger area. Plus, they pay very little attention to what the majority of their constituents want anyway.

So Jade Helm 15 is not an attempt to take over Texas. Could we get them to use it to take over Kansas?

On the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton is proving a major point – that Democrats have no core principles – as she flips on all of her own and her husband’s previous positions on issues. With no core principles, what would she do in office?

This story was originally published May 16, 2015 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Opinion Line (May 17)."