It looks like Ty Masterson, Kansas Senate President, and Dan Hawkins, Kansas Speaker of the House, are fixing to push through a flat tax on Day One of the upcoming legislative session. They tried last session and came only one vote short of surviving Gov. Kelly’s veto. Passing a flat tax would be like welcoming another Brownback economic disaster for most Kansans. Except for the wealthiest beneficiaries and large corporations, the flat tax would produce a negligible property tax savings for those of us who own real property, and NO savings for the rest. But it WOULD create a huge cut in the state’s incoming revenues.
Already counties have a difficult time meeting their budgets, and without the Covid-Era federal funds over the last few years, counties would have had a very hard time funding their needs.
What is Masterson and Hawkins’ Agenda? Unlike those of us in the middle class, these Republican leaders will do just fine with a flat tax. Dan Hawkins has been in the insurance business according to Wikipedia, so I’m thinking he’s financially well set up. Ty Masterson worked (may still work) for Wichita State. In 2022 he earned $113,207.66, according to public records, as director of a maker-space facility. A flat tax would reduce these fellas’ tax burden, and, better yet, their donors and boosters would benefit from such a tax. They would both pay the same rate as someone earning $30,000 and someone earning $5,000,000.
To give some idea of who Masterson answers to, here are some of the top contributors to his earlier House of Representatives 2008 campaign, according to OpenSecrets: Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee, 4th District Republican Committee, Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Kansas Realtors Association, Kansas Medical Society, Kansas Independent Business PAC, Cox Communications, Wichita Area Business PAC
Money-industry players generally are Masterson’s and Hawkins’ cronies. Financial, insurance and real estate companies were reported as Ty’s largest donor groups, for example. These two leaders are in positions of government power to help those with economic power.
Considering that his party is always worried about debt and budget-balancing, it seems incongruous that Mr. Masterson in 2011 filed for bankruptcy. In an article from 2011, the Wichita Eagle reported that ”…in 2008, he [Masterson] said he was working to pay off $150,000 in court-ordered judgments related to his businesses. His bankruptcy statement filed in December shows he owes nearly six times that amount.” [$800,000+]
Many voters might be cautious about trusting this current President of the Kansas Senate with state financial decisions that affect every Kansan: "I certainly hope Sen. Masterson is a better steward of the people's money than he is his own," said Ed Nazar, a Wichita bankruptcy lawyer who, as the case's trustee, represents the creditors. His record with money alone persuades me to keep him away from making any significant tax changes for the entire state.
Flat taxes do not help you and me. If you do a bit of research on “flat tax,” it’s clear that the flat tax advantages go to the wealthy more than to the middle class and poor. What middle-income people get in tax breaks will not compensate for the lost state services and county and city funding shortfalls, when state revenues plummet. Under a flat tax, generally the rich get richer and the poor and middle class get poorer and get no help from the state. We’ve seen enough draining of social and educational services in the last 40 years and don’t need to pretend that because the wealthy are happier, everyone else is, too. Trickle down prosperity doesn’t work. The income divide has been growing for decades under that economic myth.
Transitioning to a flat tax is ugly. One other serious consideration that the flat-tax proponents ignore is that a transition to a flat tax is radical and requires an enormous amount of planning in order to avoid disastrous effects to individuals, businesses, and accountants, as well as governments and organizations who’ve always operated under a complex tax code and model their operations on that. A poorly planned transition is going to fail, since our brain trust does not reside in our state lawmakers. Such a transition would create chaos and result in an impoverished Kansas, as the Brownback cuts did.
Flat tax systems sound simple and easy, and lowering taxes sounds appealing. But once you look beneath the surface of such a plain and alluring plan, you’ll discover many more problems than solutions. While the two leaders of the Kansas State Legislature are plotting and itching to enrich the wealthy with a gift of flat tax, we need to educate ourselves about what harm it will do to the state and the services people depend on, like public education, safe highways, and enforcement of laws to protect our health and well-being. It isn’t too early to develop your own understanding of this proposal. In my opinion, this is a bad tax idea made worse in the hands of Masterson, Hawkins and their followers. I hope you will write letters and make calls to senators and representatives now and in the new year. Talk to friends and neighbors about what will be lost if an ill-devised, simple-minded flat tax becomes law in a few months.
Read more at:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/flattax.asp
[Sylvester, Ron. "Andover state senator files for bankruptcy". The Wichita Eagle.] The Eagle news quoted an observer: “
https://kansasreflector.com/2023/09/21/top-kansas-republicans-push-flat-tax-proposal-pan-medicaid-expansion/
https://www.kansas.com/news/local/article1055219.html#storylink=cpy
Mary Jo Kearns
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