Taxes, education, hemp and marijuana are main issues in race for the 38th District

Kansas tax policy, education funding and the sale of industrial hemp and marijuana are top issues in the three-way Republican primary race for the 38th District of the state House of Representatives.

Mitra Templin, a former De Soto City Council member and Nathan Lucas, of Basehor and a student at the University of Kansas, are challenging incumbent Willie Dove of Bonner Springs. The winner will face Democrat Mike Fonkert of Basehor in the general election.

Dove, who has held the seat since 2013, said one of his goals for another term is to legalize the sale of industrial hemp in Kansas. Industrial hemp — not to be confused with marijuana — has over 3,000 uses and would be a good cash crop for Kansas farmers, Dove said. He said he would not be in favor of legalizing marijuana, however.

He said he’d be willing to revisit the details of the exemption of small limited liability corporations from state income tax, especially if those businesses aren’t creating more jobs. He also said the state needs to look harder at its spending priorities.

On education, Dove said the state should make sure that dollars go into classroom instruction. “People on top are getting paid much, much more,” he said. “Some money should to go our teachers.”

Inequalities between eastern and western Kansas are only going to get worse unless more is done to control spending, he said.

Lucas considers himself a Libertarian-leaning Republican. He said he’d like to see the tax break for LLCs tied directly to their job creation. As it is now, one-person businesses that don’t create any jobs don’t have to pay income taxes.

Some of the state’s other revenue-flow problems could be mitigated by having revenue go directly into the general fund, instead of the transportation fund, he said. And Lucas said he would like to see the state sales tax lowered because it hurts consumers. “We need to focus on balancing,” he said. He would like the state sales tax to be completely eliminated some day.

Legalization of marijuana is also one of his main issues. Lucas said medical marijuana should be legalized immediately and recreational marijuana phased in. Medical marijuana does not offer a “high” but relieves pain, he said, and marijuana sales could be a revenue boost to the state. “I go more toward liberty and personal freedom.”

The state needs to do a full audit on educational spending to make sure money is being spent appropriately, he said.

Templin questions the current tax code exemption for LLCs as well. “I support rewards for business bringing jobs and growth into Kansas,” she said. But the current exemption doesn’t guarantee that. She said the LLC exemption is a loophole worth closing.

She also disagrees with the previous legislature’s decision to increase the state sales tax. The sales tax is regressive and hurts the middle class, she said. The entire tax policy should be reviewed to return balance to the tax system, but Templin said the current policy has been so damaging that it may not be possible to immediately roll back the sales tax to former levels.

Education is also one of Templin’s main campaign issues. Education should be adequately funded “through real means, not through creative accounting,” her website says.

Templin also said state lawmakers overstepped their bounds with property tax lid and changes in the timing of local elections.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Taxes, education, hemp and marijuana are main issues in race for the 38th District."