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Minutes for SCR1604 - Committee on Assessment and Taxation
Short Title
Constitutional amendment lowering the rate of sales and use taxation on food and food ingredients.
Minutes Content for Thu, Feb 1, 2018
Chairperson Tyson opened a hearing on SCR1604.
Senator Tom Holland presented testimony to the Committee in support of SCR1604 by stating "Kansas has the highest state sales tax on food in the Midwest and is second overall in the entire United States". (Attachment 1) He stood for questions.
Ashley Jones-Wisner presented testimony to the Committee in support of SCR1604 by stating "research around sales tax on food in Kansas . . . has shown our high sales tax rate harms the Kansas economy, businesses and families". (Attachment 2) She stood for questions.
Brenda Johnson presented testimony to the Committee in support of SCR1604 by saying she has heard "many conversations of customers telling me of shopping in neighboring states [Colorado and Nebraska] to avoid sales tax on food items". (Attachment 3) She stood for questions.
Scott Thellman presented testimony to the Committee in support of SCR1604 by saying "lowering the sales tax on food . . . makes local foods more affordable, more competitive in a national marketplace, and more accessible to our state's population". (Attachment 4) He stood for questions.
Joey Hentzler presented testimony to the Committee in support of SCR1604 by explaining "when high taxes drive up the cost of food, families with the most limited resources have no choice but to purchase unhealthy, low-cost food". (Attachment 5) He stood for questions.
Dr. Casey Cordts presented testimony to the Committee in support of SCR1604 by indicating "in some areas, that overall tax can exceed 10% of costs . . . [which] greatly affect the ability of . . . low-income families, to purchase healthy, nutritionally rich foods". (Attachment 6) He stood for questions.
Written only testimony presented to the Committee in support of SCR1604 was provided by Emily Brown, Food Equality Initiative (Attachment 7); Rob Reiman, The Giving Grove (Attachment 8); Christie Appelhanz, Children's Alliance (Attachment 9); Beth Low-Smith, Great KC Food Policy Coalition (Attachment 10); Julie Brewer, United Community Services of Johnson County (Attachment 11); Valerie Nicholson-Watson, Harvesters, Topeka (Attachment 12); Jennifer Morris, Nutrition & Dietetics, Hutchinson (Attachment 13); Brandi Fisher, Mainstream, Mission (Attachment 14); Irene Caudillo, Healthy Communities, Wyandotte (Attachment 15); Heidi Holliday, Kansas Center for Economic Growth, Topeka (Attachment 16); Amanda Gress, Kansas Action for Children, Topeka (Attachment 17); Jon McCormick, Kansas Food Dealers & Retail Grocers of KC (Attachment 18); and Mike Shuttloffel, Kansas Catholic Services (Attachment 19).
Dr. Kenneth Kriz presented testimony to the Committee neutral to SCR1604 by providing information from four studies: "the effect of taxing groceries on rural locally owned grocery stores", "the 'incidence' of taxing groceries in terms of who bears the burden of this aspect of the sales tax", "the impact of grocery taxes on people crossing the border to purchase groceries", and "the economic effects of reducing or eliminating the tax on groceries". (Attachment 20) He stood for and answered numerous questions.
Rob Gilligan presented testimony to the Committee neutral to SCR1604 by describing how "the State of Kansas has been unable to meet its constitutional and statutorily required funding responsibilities in many different areas of state services, K-12 education, and six [other] areas of education". (Attachment 21) He stood for questions.
Written only testimony presented to the Committee in opposition to SCR1604 was provided by Dave Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute (Attachment 22).
When all questions from the Committee were answered, Chairperson Tyson closed the hearing on SCR1604.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:24am.
