Kansas needs to eliminate its sales tax on groceries and clothes, two basic human needs – The Topeka Capital-Journal
Wink Hartman| Special to Gannett Kansas
Kansas needs to go on a diet. A sales tax diet.
It is no secret that Kansas suffers from an affordability crisis, fueled in part by our sales taxes. Our sales addiction has led to high sales taxes on some of the most basic of human needs, food and clothes.
We should not be taxing groceries in this state. This plan has hurt so many Kansans, including our most vulnerable residents. When you add in local sales taxes, some parts of our state have some of the highest sales taxes on groceries in the country. This isn't right.
In some parts of Kansas, residents can drive easily to a neighboring state to buy groceries to save money. They are the lucky ones. Many Kansans don't have this luxury, since many won't drive or are unable to drive two hours just to buy groceries. Were forcing them to pay more of their income just to eat.
For those who are able to head to Missouri or Colorado to buy groceries, this hurts Kansas business. Kansas supermarkets and small groceries are losing customers to other states, which makes it harder for them to do business.
At the same time, we also charge a sales tax on clothes, another basic human need. We are telling people that we value taking money from you instead of letting you get a coat without having to add on tax.
Yes, some clothes are luxury items, but most aren't. They are needed to go to work and to survive.
Many states have lowered their sales tax on clothes or don't have them at all. Those states that don't have sales tax on clothes have seen economic benefits from this. Take Delaware for example, where there is no state sales tax. On many weekends, youll see people coming to Delaware from the District of Columbia to go shopping just to save taxes. This includes many who combine shopping with a weekend at the beach.
Go to a mall in New Jersey, where there is no sales tax on clothes, and youll see many New York license plates.
Just as some Kansans now leave the state to buy groceries, we can bring people to Kansas to shop. We can eliminate a sales tax on clothes and we can become a retail destination for other states.
Many clothing retailers are small businesses. By opening up the marketplace to new consumers well boost them. At the same time, neighboring businesses will see a rise in customers from increased foot traffic. This is a boon for Kansas Main Streets.
Many will argue that we need the sales taxes on food and clothes to fund our state. This isn't true. We need to couple any tax reduction with a spending cut. This is Management and Budgeting 101. There are many ways we can save money in our state budget. We can dust off the Legislatures efficiency study. We can look for redundancies and explore public/private partnerships.
We can also phase in these reductions. While an immediate zeroing out would allow the most impact, a phased-in pathway to zero will allow budget writing legislators more time to effectively implement budget cuts.
Kansas needs to go on this diet now before its too late.
Wink Hartman is the CEO of the Hartman Group of Companies in Wichita.
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Kansas needs to eliminate its sales tax on groceries and clothes, two basic human needs - The Topeka Capital-Journal
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