“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising, which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today I write you with a greeting for the New Year; welcome 2010! I hope you are as excited about this New Year as I am. I am optimistic that we will see growth in the economy and in ourselves as well.
Certainly the past year has offered us many opportunities for us to see the mistakes we made and have been given ample opportunity to ask, “What if”? Remember how you could not decide where to invest your 401k? You probably were given advice from family friends, co-workers as well as investment experts. How did that work out for you?
Remember the Y2K scare, when all the computers, power grids, airplanes, cash registers at Dillins and most everything else was going to stop in place? How many of you stored extra beans, rice, non-perishable food and toilet paper? Do you still have it? Lets all work for a better tomorrow anyway; it will drive the critics crazy!
The year-end tax revenues have been tallied and according to Secretary of Revenue Joan Wagnon the rosy-looking $57.5 million in corporate tax receipts for December include more that $40 million of negotiated tax settlements—AKA the Amnesty Program.
This money was from tax-only receipts from Kansas’s corporations. As it turns out those receipts included roughly $40 million of negotiated tax settlements that Secretary Wagnon was given specific legislative authority to negotiate with taxpayers to get the money in more quickly to help balance the FY ’10 budget.
“The real credit goes to the legal and audit staff at the Department of Revenue and these receipts make things look better than they really are. The negotiations created that upturn in receipts for that category. “ Wagnon said.
Without that $40 million-which included some sales tax and the negotiations Decembers tax-only receipts would have been nearly $60 million below the estimates. This much of a deficit could trigger a bit of angst for many legislators, when we all return on January 11th for the 2010 session.
The state is about $15.4 million below estimated revenues for the current fiscal year to date. That $40 million-plus probably has staved off dramatic further cuts to state spending that would likely affect everything including education and social services.
More importantly, Wagnon said she remains concerned that individual income taxes for December fell nearly $33 million short of the estimates, which is an indication that joblessness remains high. Estimates were $230 million while receipts were $197 million.
I continue to compile my returned surveys and I am hopeful within the next couple of weeks to have a working document that I can share with all of you.
Interesting I am receiving support for a tax increase on cigarettes, not surprising some think this will be a great way to raise revenue. I seriously doubt that since an increase in tax will certainly lead to a cut in use by some and out of state travel for purchase of cigarettes by others.
Not many of you want to allow the use of cell phones and texting while driving either. I can agree here, what about other distractions to the driver while operating a motor vehicle? I had one comment about not allowing any distractions to include the family puppy sitting on your lap. “ Sorry Mister, you have been charged with violation 22-456, driving with a cute poodle in your lap”. Seriously how much do we restrict and how much do we leave to common sense? Do we have to legislate against stupidity?
The 2010 Session begins in earnest the evening of January 11th with the Governor’s State of the State address. He will address the joint session of the two chambers and at the same time release his budget for FY 2011. The legislators will then turn the printed budget over to our support staff and they will take 2-3 weeks to analyze the proposed budgets. Following this our budget committees will be called to review and make recommendations.
I think the budget process needs reworked so that the legislators work with the various agency’s staff starting sometime around September. This would give us lead-time to address the budget requests as well plan for adjustments based on projected revenue estimates. The way we have been doing it seems to be more confrontational and shortens our reaction time.
I consider it an honor and privilege to be your Representative in Topeka and I want to know what you think. If I can be of assistance please get in contact with me.
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