Now that Kansas’s economy is on solid footing, state lawmakers’ first action come January should be to eliminate the state sales tax on food.

Kansas is only one of a dozen states to tax food. At 6.5 percent, it’s the second-highest rate in the nation, second only to Mississippi.

And because the tax is the same no matter one’s income, it’s regressive. That is, it takes a disproportionate chunk out of the wages of low- and middle-class workers than that of the better off.

The proposal would save consumers $6.50 for every $100 spent on groceries. Families that spend an average of $200 a week on groceries would save $676 over a year.

Studies show that a four-person household living on $25,000 a year spends almost 30 percent of its income on food. For high-end earners, their food budgets are in the single digits.

When people can afford to put food on the table, their standard of living increases dramatically, especially during these inflationary times.

Eliminating the food sales tax would cost Kansas about $450 million.

Can we afford it?

Yes.

Tax collections for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021-2022 are up 18.9 percent, some $440 million. In November, Kansas budget officials increased the state’s projected revenues for this fiscal year by $1.3 billion, thanks to strong economic growth.

Gov. Laura Kelly campaigned on cutting the food sales tax, but has waited until state coffers were flush enough to take action.

We appreciate her prudency.

More than that, we are grateful for how she has kept her promises to invest in our schools, roads, foster care system and other essential services.

That’s the difference between actions that benefit all Kansans and those that benefit only high-income earners, such as in 2012-13 when lawmakers cut the top rate of the state’s income tax by almost 30 percent and that on certain business profits to zero.

Immediately, revenues plunged.

To make up the difference, then-Gov. Sam Brownback argued for an increase in the state sales tax rates, saying they “have the least negative impact on economic growth relative to other tax types.”

In 2015, lawmakers followed Brownback’s lead and raised the sales tax to the current 6.5 percent level. But it wasn’t enough.

After four years of Brownback’s “supply-side” economics, the state’s general fund fell from $709 million in 2013 to $50 million in 2017 and a $100 million pension fund contribution scheduled for early 2016 was delayed until 2018.

With nothing to spare, the state was forced to make deep cuts to education and other vital services and downgrades in the state’s bond rating.

It’s taken us almost a decade to climb out of that hole; a history lesson Kansans should heed every time a tax cut is proposed.

Last spring, Republican lawmakers passed $94 million in tax breaks that mostly favored Kansans who did business overseas.

Gov. Kelly vetoed the measure, because, like Brownback’s tax cuts, they benefited only a select few, and more pressing needs, like education, were being neglected. Republicans did it anyway by overriding the veto.

Families that can feed their children, have a decent roof over their heads, have access to adequate healthcare and a good education are what make a state strong.

Making food more affordable is a step in the right direction.

Susan Lynn

Iola Register