A coalition of 14 members from various chambers of commerce have sent out a statement requesting that the Legislature consider increasing taxes as a means to fix the state's massive budget shortfall.

“We urge the Kansas Legislature and governor to make cuts the state can withstand but also make the difficult decisions necessary to maintain our state’s quality of life for its citizens and for the future growth of Kansas,” the statement says. “If revenues must be enhanced for basic government services, our chambers can support rational state revenue enhancements.”

The term “revenue enhancements” is regularly used to advance the concept of tax increases by tax-increasing advocates.

Among the list of representatives are leaders of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

The statement was addressed to Gov. Mark Parkinson in addition to Senate and House leadership.

The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is known for having entirely opposite views from the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, which is a strong proponent of fixing the state’s budget problems without tax increases.

The Kansas Chamber of Commerce responded to the pleas for a tax increase in a statement labeled “Handful of Local Chambers of Commerce Throw Businesses Under the Bus.”

Although the coalition of pro-tax chambers of commerce believes that the state has a revenue problem, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, much like many Republicans, believes that the state has a spending problem.

"Raising taxes now does not address the spending problem in Kansas,” said Kansas Chamber Interim President Kent Beisner. “State revenues will be down for years according to economists nationwide, so the state will be in a perpetual cycle of trying to raise taxes each legislative session to make up for years of overspending. "

Beisner said that the tax-advocating perspective of certain chambers of commerce has resulted in chamber members who feel betrayed by the pro-tax groups.

"Our government affairs team in the Statehouse has personally witnessed first-hand many business members of local chambers appear before House and Senate Tax Committees opposing various, targeted tax hikes and it wasn't lost on them that the local chambers in question were not there in opposition, but the Kansas Chamber was,” Beisner said. “As such, we have heard many of those business members are reconsidering their investment in their local chambers, which obviously means they feel they were 'thrown under the bus' by those very entities who are supposed to be representing them."

Chair of the House Commerce and Labor Committee Steve Brunk, R-Bel Aire, said there was no competition when considering which of the organizations are representing the best interests of businesses in the state.

“Clearly the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and industry has the best intentions for businesses and for creating jobs,” Brunk told Kansas Liberty. “There is no question about that.”

Brunk said the many of these local chambers of commerce consist of members who work in positions that are paid for through taxpayer dollars, and that this conflict of interest likely promoted their call for a tax increase.

“A lot of the local chambers of commerce membership comes from school boards and from county government,” Brunk said. “Therefore they want to see more solutions by government as opposed to solutions by the private sector.”

The coalition of chambers of commerce reflects similar public statements made by Democrats in the House and the Senate and left-wing Republicans about the need for tax increases. House leadership has allowed for tax debates to take place, but Democrats so far have refused to take part in voting or advocating for a tax increase on the House floor.

Brunk said that Democrats have been using this strategy for years to secure a budget that spends more money than the state has. This causes a chain reaction in which legislators must consider increasing taxes to provide the funds for the inflated budget.

Brunk said that Republicans are trying to ensure that this strategy is not used again in the 2010 session.

“They want to be able to raise the budget and then have Republicans vote for tax increases,” Brunk said. “This year the Republicans are saying we need to figure out how much money we have first and then adjust our budget accordingly.”

—Holly Smith

Resources:

Chambers of Commerce tax-hiking statement

Kansas Chamber of Commerce reaction

The Week in Review