Governor Kelly’s “Ax the Tax” Campaign to eliminate the food tax in Kansas may have hit a bit of a snag in the Kansas Legislature. Kansas lawmakers are debating a Bill that would eliminate State sales tax on food. If the Bill becomes law, it would wipe out the State’s 6.5% sales tax on food. The effort even has bipartisan support, as Republican candidate for Governor, Derek Schmidt, has also asked for the cut.
Senator Caryn Tyson says eliminating the tax would cost the State between $320 and $785 million a year in revenue. She adds that the tax giveaways recently, to a still unnamed company, would make it harder to afford the lost money to the State if they eliminated the food tax. She says the Legislature is working on an amendment that would push the start of the food sales tax cut back a year and include making changes to the State’s sales tax on utilities. However, Democrat Tom Holland says Kansas can afford both, the incentives to the big manufacturer and the sales tax cut, because the State expects to have more than $2 million in surplus at the end of the fiscal year in June.
However, some election year politics could be at play. Some Republicans are pushing back because they don’t want to give Governor Kelly a big win in the year leading up to re-election.
