Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

Little late on this one. http://www.kansan.com/stories/2009/feb/18/state_employees/?news

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• Posted by pantheon on February 18, 2009 at 9:54 a.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

I don't understand why this person thinks raising taxes is the answer to our budgetary shortcomings when the groups that pay the largest portion of taxes in the state (corporations and wealthy individuals) can simply relocate to one of the multiple states on our border with a more friendly tax environment (and fewer budgetary shortfalls.)

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• Posted by connerm on February 18, 2009 at 10:27 a.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

I'm more concerned that places like animal shelters and state parks are still getting any funding at all when we are taking such drastic measures with our children and schools. Healthcare, education and low taxes should be covered. Everything else is merely a luxury.

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• Posted by Abita on February 18, 2009 at 11:09 a.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

I'll add to what connerm has said and invite people to look at what's happened in Michigan, a state with some of the highest coorperate taxes. People will just pack up and leave, especially if you tax their business to death. It's happening here already, and with as lightly as the Governor approached essentially borrowing a third of a billion dollars when we as a state cannot sell treasuries or print money, higher taxes almost certainly would result for the few businesses left in this state.

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• Posted by em1 on February 18, 2009 at 12:15 p.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

Spending by the State of Kansas expanded at an astounding rate under the Graves administration. Those who called for more responsibility, so we were not tied to such high levels of spending during an economic downturn, were dismissed as “reactionaries.” We were told that the State could address that when, and if, it happened.

From 1989 to 2009, Kansas State Income Tax rates have increased for a married couple filing jointly, from 5.15% on income over $35,000, to 6.25% for $30,000 to $60,000, and 6.45% for income over $60,000. This is a 20.95% to 24.76% rate increase on wages that inflation has increased by more than 68%. If a married couple had Adjusted Gross Income of $40,000 income in 1989, their AGI would have to increase to $68,328.54 in 2008, just to keep up with inflation. Their Kansas State Income Tax would have increased from $1,537.00 to $2,978.70, a 95% increase. Federal income taxes are on top of that.

In addition, Kansas’ automobile tax rates are among the highest in the area, the sales tax rate has increased (again, paid on inflated prices), gasoline taxes have gone up, and real estate taxes, at least in Goddard, where I live, have more than tripled since 1994.

Mostly through accounting gimmicks, the legislature has addressed the downturn for now, and once again, Prof. Mikkelson calls those of us who don’t want to take more money from struggling families, “reactionary fools.” For those of you who want to take the money from corporations, Google the “Irish Miracle.” Any tax increase on a business increases the cost of doing business, reducing the amount of money available for salaries and benefits. Further, most corporations are small, family owned businesses.

In order to borrow the funds from other accounts, the legislative leaders have to sign a statement that the loan will be repaid by the end of the fiscal year, in this case, by June 1, 2009. With falling tax revenues, and $550 million already owed to these funds, the most recent loan simply could not have been repaid by then. They would have had to knowingly sign a false statement.

Prof. Mikkelson reminds me of my first semester English instructor at KU, Roger Moon. He explained to us that he, and those like him, were the most important members of society, since having people like him, showed that society had reached a high level. He could not see that it is the foundation which is the most important part. It is like declaring the penthouse of a building to be the most important, while ignoring the foundation. A building can survive without a penthouse, and society can survive without the intellectual class. Neither society nor a building can survive without its foundation. Society’s foundation is the producers, the private businesses and their employees who provide the tax base.

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• Posted by jbarrett on February 18, 2009 at 1:01 p.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

"Further, most corporations are small, family owned businesses."

What the hell have you been smoking?

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• Posted by pantheon on February 18, 2009 at 2:23 p.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

I am not smoking anything. I simply live in the real world.

Look at the Secretary of State's Web site for corporations. There are litterally thousands of corporations registered to do business in Kansas. Any landlord who has a clue will form a corporation or limited liability company to hold the rental property. I have clients for whom I have formed more than one corporation or LLC to isolate business rental property from residential rental property.

I recently formed a LLC for a home remodeling business owned by a husband and wife. In December, I formed a LLC for a widow to hold the real estate she and her husband held before he died. I will soon be forming a LLC for a one-man painting business. In the past few years, I have formed corpoations or LLC's for a two-man lawn care business, two one-person Website designers, a family owned Internet Service Provider, a one-man handyman business, a one-man trucking operation, a one-man floor coating business, a one-man computer repair business, a single owner nail solon, a three-family barbeque business, a 2-person owned drug treatment center and a syndicate of Vietnamese immigrants (17 people total) who used it to buy a hotel from a one-man corporation.

One on-going corporate client is a one-man equipment leasing business. Another client, an individual, recently sold his small-town resaurant, desolving one corporation, but still has at least 5 corporations or LLC's for a fireworks sales business, a small used car business (less than 5 cars a month), rental properties, etc. Another, a husband and wife, has at least 4 corporations or LLC's to isolate their various businesses from their personal assets.

In a society that is law suit happy, a corporation or LLC is vital to protect a person's asstes if he or she owns a business.

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• Posted by jbarrett on February 18, 2009 at 3:14 p.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

An anecdote and twenty five cents is worth about twenty five cents. Where are you getting your small business definitions? Where is this number of corporations that you have from, because I don't see it on the KS Secretary of State site. I require data.

I once had a discussion with an Australian who told me that America had about the same percentage of small businesses as Australia, and decided to look up numbers for what qualified as a small business in both countries.

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• Posted by pantheon on February 18, 2009 at 4:17 p.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

Go to the Secretary of State's site and do a corporate search using just a few common words. You will be surprised at the number of corporations, the vast majority of which you have never heard of. Each search is restricted to 300 hits, so if the word is too common, you will not see the full results. I would note that some search terms turn up a lot of forfeited, merged or dissolved corporations, other are almost all active.

There are very few large corporations incorporated in Kansas, because Delaware corporate laws are much more favorable, so they Delaware is the center of the corporate filing universe.

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• Posted by jbarrett on February 18, 2009 at 4:52 p.m.
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Letter: University should take position on budget crisis

Jbarrett:

Thank you so much for your thoughtful contributions. It is clear that you have done your research on this topic and we can all benefit from reading what you put down.

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• Posted by connerm on February 19, 2009 at 8:20 a.m.
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