The Kansas House will now vote on if 330,000 small businesses should be taxed or not. This is happening as lawmakers try to find a solution for a $290 million budget gap.
For Kansas Coffee Company owner Crystal Grohs, the only was she would want to go back to paying the tax is if the money went back into schools.
“If it’s not, it’s something that actually helps us out a lot by not having to pay that part of it, so it’s kind of a catch 22, you know if it’s going to be to the schools or not,” said Grohs.
The feeling is shared with Cindy Newton, who owns Kansas 4D Ultrasound across the street from the coffee shop in downtown Olathe.
“If we don’t have the appropriate teacher ratio to child, what are we doing to our future? You got to have a better future plan to get there, and if you’re just going to on the roads, find another way to do it,” said Newton.
The Kansas House got to the bill first, but a very similar bill is being pushed through the Kansas Senate. Sen. Greg Smith, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, says eliminating the tax was only meant to help businesses with expenses. He says it was not meant to stop taxing altogether, and he says he wants to fix loopholes.
“It turned into 100 percent nothing got taxed and that was never the intent of the bill, that’s not what I voted for in 2012. If it had been, I wouldn’t have voted for it in 2012, what I voted for was simply the non-wage income wouldn’t be taxed to help businesses grow,” said Smith.
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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com
