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| Name | KS Senator Jim Denning announces $81 'utility fee' to fund schools |
| Video Uploader | Video From Working Journalist Press |
| Upload Date | This Video Uploaded At 18-05-2017 05:40:55 |
| Video Discription | TOPEKA, KS - During Wednesday's meeting of the Kansas Senate Select Committee on Education Finance, Chairman Jim Denning announces $81 'utility fee' to fund schools will be part of the Senate's K-12 school funding bill to be introduced in the Senate chamber. Near the end of the meeting, Sen. Denning announced that the Senate bill will include a dedicated funding stream to pay for the increased level of school spending to be included in the K-12 school funding bill. That mechanism is a proposed utility bill fee surcharge of $2.25 per bill for residential water, electric, and gas bills and $10 per bill for commercial businesses. For typical residents the new 'fees' would be $81 a year. This new 'fee' would be used instead of additional income taxes to pay for the $150 million increase in school spending likely to be approved in FY 2018 as an attempt to satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court's Gannon Case finding of 'inadequate' funding of schools. Increasing income taxes are generally opposed by the conservative faction of Senate legislators including Chairman Denning. Sen. Denning offered a potential justification for using a utility fee as the most broad based consumption tax he could think of. He compared it as being more favorable than using the alternative of a sales tax increase to fund the Court ordered school funding increase. He cited the apparent decline in sales tax receipts that the state has been experiencing as an indication of a transition from retail sales for many items to Internet purchases that may avoid sales tax collection. Denning said, "You can't buy utilities over the Internet. It's the broadest fee. Everybody will share in it. Schools are important... and that was the logic." Opponents have questioned the fairness of the utility fee approach to taxation for a number of reasons including the regressive nature of the new tax. Since the fee is a fixed amount, the poor would pay a disproportionate share of the new tax in comparison to an income tax (which is a fraction of income) or a sales tax which is based on the amount of money paid for a product. Residents with large homes which use much more energy would pay the same amount for the new tax as residents of apartments who use much less energy. Residents who use much less water or energy than a large commercial business would not be paying that much smaller of a fee than the business in comparison to the relative amounts differences in amount usage. Increasing customer utility bills each month to fund education will also increase the potential that poor people including elderly on fixed incomes, who struggle to pay for utilities during cold or hot months, could have more difficulty keeping their payments current, thus risking more gas, water, or electric service cutoffs. Service cutoffs for non-payment often result in additional restoration-of-service penalty fees, further eroding their finances. The universal need for at least some utility service makes the fixed fee revenue collected by the state an exceedingly reliable source of funding for schools. Since the new utility fee comes with every bill, regardless of the amount of utility usage, state revenue is generated each month from a resident simply as a result of them having connected utility service. http://www.workingjournalistpress.com/articles/170517/Senator-Jim-Denning-announces-81-dollar-utility-fee-to-fund-schools.php Recorded by the Working Journalist Press on May 17, 2017. http://www.WorkingJournalistPress.com |
| Category | News & Politics |
| Tags | Jim Denning | Kansas Senate | school funding | utility fee |
