(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Feb. 29, 2016)
If there has ever been a ticking time bomb in the Statehouse, it’s a page and a half resolution that would let voters decide to eliminate the sales tax on groceries over the next four years.
Introduced by a dozen senators, the measure, if it passed the Senate and House, would go on the November general election ballot, just below the list of judges that some Republicans are hoping voters will stick around long enough to non-confirm.
You don’t have to be a fulltime politics watcher to know that if you can give voters a chance to eliminate that pesky sales tax on groceries, it’s going to pass. Who likes to pay sales tax on anything? Especially groceries?
It is that near-certainty that the resolution would be overwhelmingly approved that worries some legislators who don’t like the food sales tax, either, but are looking downstream of that vote to just how they balance the budget without that revenue source.