Time is running out to end the travesty in Topeka

The slapstick misadventures of the 2015 Legislature have given Kansans plenty of amusement in recent days.

And yet, as reality sinks in, many bemoan the fact that what they are witnessing is not all that funny.

The inability of Republican ideologues to compromise for the common good has created a situation where the next state budget hangs by a thread while lawmakers try to find $400 million to balance it.

Gov. Sam Brownback has been ineffectual and hard-headed.

Almost $1 million in taxpayer funds has been wasted on a scheduled 90-day session that on Thursday reached day 112.

To top it off, the harsh glare of the national spotlight has embarrassed the Sunflower State.

Along the way, this travesty has raised the possibility of very harsh consequences for Kansans and their quality of life, imperiling funds for K-12 schools, higher education and social service programs.

Incompetence has been rampant in Topeka.

▪ On Wednesday came reports that Brownback had cried during a meeting with lawmakers, pleading with them to solve the budget mess. Never mind that he played the prime role in creating it with excessive income tax cuts in 2012.

▪ On Thursday morning, House members were locked in the chamber, as their leaders bullied lawmakers to approve the largest tax increase in state history. Fortunately, the ploy didn’t work.

▪ Thursday afternoon, Republican leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature held an extraordinary joint House-Senate caucus that essentially included “my way or the highway” threats from Brownback.

The governor could have used that time to offer a simple idea to help end the gridlock in Topeka. It’s a move that almost all Kansans would understand: Roll back the law that allows up to 330,000 businesses and farmers to get out of paying income taxes.

There is absolutely no good reason to boost the sales tax on 3 million Kansas by $190 million a year while not asking the “pass-through” business owners to help foot some of the bills for crucial public services.

That’s fair. That’s a commonsense approach.

But Brownback says he’ll veto any legislation that dares touch those tax exemptions. The Legislature should ignore him and dare him to veto such a bill. That would put him squarely on the hook for what’s to follow, up to and including massive budget cuts that would harm ordinary Kansans.

Johnson County’s delegation, as a group, has done too little to solve this mess.

Five senators last Sunday voted for the plan that increases the sales tax from 6.15 percent to 6.55 percent.

On Thursday, when the House rejected that proposal by a 95-20 vote, six of the hard-core votes for the tax increase plan came from Johnson Countians.

So much for the good old days, when Johnson County’s moderate Republicans held sway and could be counted on to solve problems, not create them.

As the end of the week arrived, sleep-deprived, increasingly beleaguered lawmakers were bickering with one another. The governor was refusing to contribute anything positive to the discussion.

And Kansans waited to see whether the Legislature would go too far in boosting taxes on them — or would finally see the light and repeal at least part of the ill-planned and revenue-destructing 2012 tax scheme.

This story was originally published June 11, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Time is running out to end the travesty in Topeka."