News: "Kansas tax revenue plunged $27 million below expectations in December" (Republic: violent crime, how much)

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Yep. Colorado is rolling in pot-boom cash.

Just like KS followed suit on gambling and Sunday liquor sales.....and Illinois now has slot machines in bars.....the almighty dollar is going to see legal pot in a number of states that want a slice of that pie.

*shrug*

I don't use the stuff, but I voted in favor of legalization. I don't see Kansas legalizing it in my lifetime though.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by denverian

I don't use the stuff, but I voted in favor of legalization. I don't see Kansas legalizing it in my lifetime though.

Did you think they'd allow casinos and Sunday liquor sales?

[Red On The Noodle]

Originally Posted by brooksider2brooklyn

Is there a single tower crane up in the entire state of Kansas right now lol. Pittsburgh is pretty slow growth and they have new skyscrapers going up. Last time I was in KC,Mo at least it had changed a little bit. We drove to Wichita and everything from the ks line to Wichita looks almost exactly like it did 12 years ago other than some new strip malls in olathe.

Most jobs in Kansas are $10-$12 an hour jobs -- look at Craig's List and online employment ads. Everyone that has a higher paying job has held onto it -- usually without any increase in pay for the last 3-4 years. No high paying job -- minimum tax revenue.

[SyraBrian]

Kansas gave away income tax cuts to the rich and the rich hopped on planes to spend their savings elsewhere. Who'd have thought that would have happened?

[AnywhereElse]

Remember, we lost Amazon in Coffeyville and I am sure that had some impact. I pay KS state tax on nearly every online purchase as most are some how affiliated with KS and then, there is the "use" tax when filing for state income tax.

The biggest thing is, the people that the laws and decisions here have good jobs. Many in the larger metro areas have good jobs. That is all that really matters here.

I keep seeing them talk about a minimum wage increase to $15.00 an hour. I know they don't realize what cost-of-living is. Here, making $15.00 an hour is a LOT of money. We have a company that started out offering $9.00 an hour through a temp agency for production help. Now, I think it is up to $14.00 and they are not hiring through the temp agency. What they found was that at $9.00 an hour, they couldn't keep employees and some of them were less than desirable. They kept raising it $1.00 per hour and now it is pretty much fixed.

Illegals greatly impact the wages. They are doing production work at a place that doesn't e-verify and start at minimum wage. We have a few really nice facilities that just sit empty.

If we restore tariffs on incoming goods like we used to have and only give jobs to those qualified to work in the US, I think most states will start to see recovery.

I thought the legalization of pot in CO brought in some issues with the types of people that would move to a state just because pot was legal there. Ah, this was it: Legal marijuana drawing homeless to Colorado - CBS News

The last thing KS needs is anyone coming into the state that can't support themselves.

I have my fingers crossed that the upcoming election will shake things up one way or the other at the national level, too bad that Brownback was re-elected and I had no part in that based on "fool me once........".

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by SyraBrian

Kansas gave away income tax cuts to the rich and the rich hopped on planes to spend their savings elsewhere. Who'd have thought that would have happened?

However we feel about Brownbacks cuts, they back-tracked and sought to balance them with other increases elsewhere.

Soooo, what we are discussing now is that there is STILL a tax shortfall.

Now keep in mind this could occur because they missed the estimate of the impact of the new tax increases as well as macro-economic impacts both state and federal....or combinations of all of the above.

Basically your post makes it look like you really don't understand what we are talking about but just did a little partisan drive-by....kinda like getting photo-bombed by some random drunk guy.

P.S. Interesting point you make about the mobility of the very wealthy....not that they'd ever oh....move somewhere with lower taxes like they've done throughout Europe for decades (Monaco etc.) and now quietly find reasons to move from California to Florida for a variety of reasons.

[hd_rider]

Kansas is another red state dominated by Republicans and with no initiative process. Even though a recent Kansas Speaks 2015 Public Opinion Survey shows 68% of Kansans supporting medical cannabis and 63% supporting decriminalization, the Kansas state leadership continues to ignore the desires of its citizens. Even modest proposals, such as the medicinal use of cannabidiol to treat patients suffering from seizures, have been blocked in the state senate.

Facing some of the strictest laws in the country, the authorities can come and take your kid away and lock you up for years because you grow or use cannabis to fight cancer, Crohn’s disease, PTSD, and other illnesses. Second time offenders caught with as little as a single gram will face felony charges, up to three and a half years incarceration, and a $100,000 fine. The legacy of alcohol prohibition lingers, too: Almost all of its counties are either dry or semi-dry.

Since Colorado has legalized cannabis for both recreational and medical use, less children use pot, traffic fatalities are at an all-time low, and there is less use of dangerous and addictive pharmaceutical drugs. Violent crime has dropped and the state has banked massive tax revenues. According to recently released figures, the Colorado Department of Revenue in 2014 brought in $70 million in taxes relating to cannabis, just one of many good reasons to replace marijuana prohibition with a system of regulation.

There are well over one-hundred documented scientific studies showing cannabis can effectively treat numerous types of cancer, improve immunity, and fight anxiety and pain. The National Cancer Institute recently released a report on cannabis concluding that THC (the active ingredient in cannabis) caused a 45 percent reduction in bladder cancer, remission in breast and liver cancer and more. They have also determined that there is no lethal dose of marijuana and addictive potential is considerably lower than any other medicine available.

I simply cannot fathom that in this era of advanced scientific knowledge, where the beneficial effects of cannabis have been proven time and again, that we have an uninformed / uneducated public that cling to the idea that "weed" is just as dangerous as heroin, meth, crack cocaine, LSD, and other illicit drugs. Couple that with the fact that pharmaceutical companies pay lobbyists millions of dollars to keep cannabis classified as a Schedule 1 drug and then you might begin to understand. Those same companies stand to lose billions of dollars in revenue if cannabis is ever dropped from Schedule 1 because that's when people will figure out just how many pills can be replaced by a lowly, natural plant. And there are also those that say rescheduling / decriminalization would cost millions of jobs in the Prisons for Profit, Law Enforcement, Judicial and Legal defense industries. But I suppose their justification is that in a vibrant and robust economy such as ours, we cannot jeopardize all we've built just to save some useless lives.

Either our state’s leaders are simply morons who are unable (or unwilling) to see the health, social, and economic benefits of cannabis legalization, or they are just holding the party line and continuing to spout the same drivel they always have while their pockets and purses get heavy with dollars from the pharmaceutical and prison industries. What’s really sad is these morons were voted into office by the majority of Kansas residents.

If you can escape this state, do it. You’ll be glad you’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.

[SyraBrian]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

However we feel about Brownbacks cuts, they back-tracked and sought to balance them with other increases elsewhere.

Soooo, what we are discussing now is that there is STILL a tax shortfall.

Now keep in mind this could occur because they missed the estimate of the impact of the new tax increases as well as macro-economic impacts both state and federal....or combinations of all of the above.

Basically your post makes it look like you really don't understand what we are talking about but just did a little partisan drive-by....kinda like getting photo-bombed by some random drunk guy.

P.S. Interesting point you make about the mobility of the very wealthy....not that they'd ever oh....move somewhere with lower taxes like they've done throughout Europe for decades (Monaco etc.) and now quietly find reasons to move from California to Florida for a variety of reasons.

My point is the mobility of the wealthy. If you live in a state in the middle of the country, it doesn't cost much to go anywhere in the country for vacations and what not. Since Florida is a vacation spot, they can charge sales tax and still have people vacation and actually move there. Living in a vacation spot is fun and also saves money on vacations. The residents of other states subsidize Florida's lack of an income tax.

However, when true believers make projections, they believe all the rich people savings will be spent in their state and easily make up any income tax shortfall with the sales tax increase Unfortunately, Kansas won't ever get a bevy of tourists to subsidize smaller income taxes.

When that doesn't work, the true believers hike up sales taxes and cigarette taxes and alcohol taxes and then think that taxing consumption won't cause less of it. So now the rich have money to spend out of state and the rest must spend money out of state to get more bang for the buck. So everybody crosses state lines. And of course, less folks cross state lines from Kansas' many border states to shop there.

With its most prosperous county on the Missouri border and with an international airport nearby, a state like Kansas needs to have a revenue system that is based on income with lower sales and sin taxes. It's the only way to keep spending in state and attract consumer spending from out of state.

[wtby4000]

Which state is a Mod cut Brownback paradise?

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Did you think they'd allow casinos and Sunday liquor sales?

lol! Well.... I'd say Kansans, at least today, wouldn't make that big of a jump into "sin".