This Internet thing is quite a source of information isn’t it? When we type into the Google search engine the options are endless. One website sponsored by the Wichita Eagle that may be of interest is one that has all the candidates for office listed as well as their responses to a series of questions offered by the editorial staff.
Go to www.http.//vote.kansas.com.index. By surfing your way around you can actually look at all the candidates, their responses and their opponents’ responses side by side. Give it a shot and get informed.
I have a really interesting report made available by the Tax Foundation, 2001 L street, NW, Suite 1050, Washington D.C. 20036. 202-464-6200, or TF@TaxFoundation.org. This report compares the “Sunflower State with the rest of the nation with comparisons of the 2008 tax facts and figures.
Some examples include, General Sales Tax; we rank 25th at 5.3%, Texas 9th at 6.25%, Oklahoma 35th at 4.5%, California #1 at 7.25%, and New Hampshire, Delaware, Alaska, and Oregon are tied for 50th at 0%.
Gasoline Sales tax Rate per gallon; we are 12th at .25 cents, Texas is 27th at .20 cents, Oklahoma is 42d at .17 cents, California is 33d at 19.2 cents, New York is #1 with 38.65 cents, Georgia is 50th at 7.5 cents.
Cigarette Tax Cents per 20 pack; we are 30th at .79 cents, Texas is 16th at $1.41, and Oklahoma is 22d at $1.03,
California is 27th at .87, and New Jersey is #1 with $2.57.5, and get this South Carolina is 50th at .07 cents.
In the above examples no local taxes were included. The average income per household in Kansas ranks us at 23d with $98,373, while our friends in West Virginia rank 50th at $76,350 and the top spot goes to Connecticut whose residents earn an average of $146,851.
The Tax Freedom Day for the Calendar year of 2007 saw most of the states, free from tax burden by April. Kansas was ranked #28 with April 24th, the day we begin working for ourselves and not the taxman.
Connecticut with the highest earnings average is #1 with a much later date of May 20th.
Spending in Kansas on the Federal side; we receive$1.12 back for each dollar we pay in Federal Taxes, which ranks us #22, while Texas is ranked #35 and receives $0.94, New Mexico gets #1 at $2.03.
These are some examples that show how we rank among our fellow states. We all seem to have the same requirements to fund roads, schools, welfare, government services and it is interesting in seeing how we compare. This is a measure of what we spend to provide our government with some of the money necessary to provide these services.
One last observation and then I will go to something else, State Lottery Sales average per household ranks Kansas at #34 with purchases of $217.53. Rhode Island is #1 with $4,256.73 and last place goes to North Carolina with a per household average of $67.15.
To view the Kansas State budgets in more detail you may look up www.kansas.gov/kanview/index.html.
The last day to register for the primary election is this Monday July 21st.
Two major health hazards -smoking and obesity- can add yet another feature to their dossier of potential health risks. A study published in The Lancet has linked both to hurrying up the aging process. Dr. Tim Spector of St Thomas Hospital in London led a team of researchers who concluded, “our findings suggest that obesity and cigarette smoking accelerate human aging.
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