House Republicans defeat Gov. Kelly’s ‘Axe the food tax’

Rather than give Kansans a break on soaring food costs, Republicans would rather see the Governor go down in defeat

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April 27, 2022 - 4:13 PM

Gov. Laura Kelly sports a KU jacket Monday in honor of its basketball team's recent national championship. That was the good news. On Tuesday, House Republicans defeated her measure to eliminate a sales tax on food. Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector

Republicans in the Kansas House of Representatives hate Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly more than they want to help their constituents.

That’s the only conclusion after Tuesday’s morally degraded vote, when House members voted 48-74 against bringing a full food tax repeal bill to the floor. The GOP has claimed for years that it supports cutting sales taxes on food, but for some reason they’ve just never managed to do it. In past years, they’ve added it as a sweetener to corporate tax giveaways or just voted it down when proposed by Democrats.

What’s their reasoning this time?

Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, told fellow Republicans “you’re not gonna want to cut these budgets. What do you think your schools are gonna say? I have never and I will not under any circumstances vote for a tax increase because you act irresponsibly.”

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