After not passing a tax bill this morning, the Kansas Legislature plans to go back to the drawing board to work out another plan.
State Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist., said a conference committee of three senators and three House members is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. today to work on the tax plan.
The Senate is in recess until 8 p.m. while the House was scheduled to meet again at 2 p.m., and is expected to announce a recess then, he said. The Legislature is in overtime, with extra expenses approaching $1 million while it works out the tax plan.
The conference committee’s two Republican senators and two Republican House members probably will be the ones who will be making the decision on the next tax plan that is presented, he said. That will be based on if they think they can get 21 votes in the Senate and 53 votes in the House to pass it, he added.
The tax plan presented this morning, including a sales tax increase and a cigarette tax increase, failed in the House by a double-digit margin, he added. It had earlier passed the Senate by one vote.
Sen. Haley said he believes the conference committee will come back with another tax plan to be presented to the legislators.
Sen. Haley said the Brownback administration was not humbly facing the failure of its income tax cut program that rolled back taxes on the rich, and instead was trying to balance the budget with additional taxes on the poor to pay for it.
The Brownback administration was expecting legislators to come it its assistance, he said, but legislators, many who face re-election next year, are balking.
Sen. Haley cited the Dr. Seuss “Yertle the Turtle” story of turtle shells all stacked up on top of each other, extending the king’s domain by reaching new heights, when the weight began to be unbearable on those at the lower levels. One lower level turtle let out a burp and toppled the entire group.
“I think one of these little legislators who has to run next year, getting crushed by the weight of the Brownback inheritance, needs to let a little yelp out,” Sen. Haley said.
“I believe the tax committee knows that Kansans are weary of the overtime expense and the indecisiveness of the Republican leadership, and the failure to reach a decision, and I think those six tax conferees studying different incarnations of the tax bill will come together at 3 and put together something to have enough votes to pass,” Sen. Haley said. “Whether or not it will pass, no one knows yet.”