Republican incumbent faces two challengers in Kansas House District 19 race

Voters in parts of Overland Park will have three choices as to who will represent them in the 19th District of the Kansas House.

Democrat Elizabeth Meitl and Libertarian John Taube are trying to get the job from Republican incumbent Stephanie Clayton, who has served two terms in the eastern Johnson County district.

The three, all of Overland Park, believe the state needs to change a part of the Kansas tax system that allows limited liability corporation owners to avoid paying state income tax. Beyond that, though, their positions differ.

Meitl calls the LLC policy — which has been held partly to blame for lower-than-predicted state revenues — a disaster. “We need to either go back to the pre-2012 tax policy or create a new tax system that eliminates the protection for LLCs,” she said. That might solve some revenue problems in the long run, but “in the short run, we’re in trouble because we’ve been dug into a deep hole.”

Meitl said she generally agrees with many of Clayton’s positions. The school finance formula will demand creative solutions to repair the damage done by the current administration, she said. But she did not have specifics on what form those solutions should take, saying the funding formula will depend on collaboration among all of education’s stakeholders.

Judicial retention is also a part of her platform. Meitl said she encourages voters to vote to retain the Kansas Supreme Court judges, saying there’s an effort by conservatives to unseat them and replace them with judges “who would continue to undermine public education.”

Taube also dislikes the tax exemption for LLCs, saying he’d like to repeal the tax code of 2012. A fairer tax code would encourage economic growth and would make it easier for the average person to get a job, he said. In the short term, the state should get rid of the LLC exemption, he said, but in the long run a flat tax would be fairer.

The educational system also needs revamping, Taube said. Students leaving high school should have more technical training to be able to find jobs, he added. Along those lines, Taube said he’d support having the state stop using the Common Core curriculum.

He cautioned that more money for schools hasn’t resulted in better test scores, saying the state might get better results with a different curriculum and by getting more jobs into the economy.

He also said he’d support legalization of medical marijuana and that the savings in the courts could be redirected to education.

Clayton agreed that the income tax exemption needs fixing and said she supports closing the LLC loophole. But she said the problem goes deeper than that. In addition, she said she would like to get rid of the income tax rate-cutting mechanism that propels the “march to zero” state income tax. On her website, Clayton said eliminating or drastically cutting the state income tax would put too much of the burden on property taxes.

In addition, Clayton said she’d like to eventually eliminate the sales tax on groceries and “human dignity products” that include such things as diapers for any age and feminine hygiene products. However, those types of cuts will have to be done in steps to keep the state budget stable, she said. As for spending cuts, Clayton suggested the Legislature go paperless to cut down on its operating costs.

On education, Clayton said, “I look forward to working with other legislators to develop a strong and sustainable school finance formula.” Education should be fully funded, with special ed, early education, Parents as Teachers and gifted programs supported, she said.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Republican incumbent faces two challengers in Kansas House District 19 race."