Corruption and Collusion by Crooks in Our Capitol are Crushing Kansas by Continuing to Condone Crony Capitalism! Alarm! Alarm!

Alarm! Pay Heed, Fellow Clueless Citizens of Kansas! Were all being duped! A wonderful alternative tax reform bill to our Governors glide path to zero income tax tax reform plan is currently languishing and being kept completely in the dark at the Kansas Capitol by the so-called leadership of our State Government. They and their minions refer to themselves as the leadership because, and only because, they are the sole few power brokers who wield strict control of everything and every act that is allowed to take place in the halls of our Legislature. Whats that, you say? You may now rightfully ask, What is this so-called wonderful alternative tax reform bill anyhow? It is House Bill 2355, The Kansas FairTax Act of 2013, and House Bill 2355 is not even going to be allowed to see the bright light of day by in a fair hearing that ought to be granted to it by the House Committee on Taxation! By some weird coincidence, the names of 35 House Members signing up to become co-sponsors of HB-2355 introduced at the eleventh hour by Representative Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) were somehow omitted from the bill. Hmmm! Doesnt that raise a red flag? And then, an informal poll of the remaining members of the House conducted just last week has found that at least 30 other Representatives would be favorably disposed to vote for this bill and be in favor of it over the Governors tax plan if its proven in Committee to be worthy of forwarding to the full House of Representatives for debate. This number of Representatives constitutes a clear majority of the House membership. But No! Oh no! Lets all act as though HB2355 is merely a quirka flippant fancy that just as well should not even exist! Why should anybody bother with it? Who are these brash upstarts anyway, being so foolish to believe that they have a better idea? How dare they interfere?! One enterprising freshman Kansas State Representative in private conversations last week with former House Speaker Mike ONeil and current Speaker Ray Merrick, and again soon thereafter with Governor Brownback, was told that House Bill 2355 was unacceptable primarily because Youre going to have real trouble believing this one: it raises too much money! And, several important Kansas companies would immediately lose millions of dollars of their current tax exemptions! Oh, Woe is Kansas! What they all fail to admit is that HB-2355 clearly relieves those companies (and all companies) from having to bear the vast expense (1) of collecting and filing returns for the payroll tax and personal income withholding tax of all their employees, and (2) of paying accounting firms to calculate and file their own corporate income tax returns. Under the Kansas FairTax Act of 2013, many existing tax exemptions will not be lost, because all purchases of any products or services necessary for running a company business are still never subject to taxation. HB2355 reduces the states expense of running the Kansas Department of Revenue to less than half of what it is today, saving the taxpayers and the government additional millions of badly needed dollars. Whats going on right before our eyes, to be purely and simply stated here, is the ugly scourge of crony capitalism, rotten to its very core. This corrupt nonsense is known as the favor factory, wherein politicians can pick economic special interest winners and (consequently and disastrously) also pick thousands and thousands of other businesses and individuals who are the economic losers. Why? Why, you ask? Its only so the politicians can continue to receive financial backing for their political campaigns and special perks, thats why. And finallythis must stop! House Bill 2355 is precisely the way and the best way to hammer the favor factory into smithereens where it rightfully belongs. Therefore, Please! Call your State Representative and your State Senator and Governor Brownback today! Demand and insist that the Kansas FairTax Act of 2013 at least be granted a fair and open hearing before the House and Senate tax committees. All Kansas will be eternally grateful if every one of us will do this one simple thing. The prairie grass roots of Kansas can still save the day if we will all pull together to keep the favor factory from tearing our precious State of Kansas apart. Mark Saylor, MD Topeka, Kansas March 10, 2013