Voice For Liberty

Raj Goyle votes to end Kansas corporate income tax!

Bob Weeks

in

Did a vote by Raj Goyle last week in favor of ending the Kansas corporate income tax signal a genuine shift in his mindset, or was it merely election-year posturing?

Goyle, a Democrat who represents parts of east and southeast Wichita, is a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas.

Last week on the floor of the Kansas House of Representatives, Richard Carlson, a Republican from St. Marys and chairman of the House Taxation Committee, offered an amendment to a bill. The main purpose of the amendment was to eliminate the Kansas corporate income tax. The text of the amendment and the recorded vote appear in the journal for March 16, 2010, starting on page 1130.

The amendment failed on a recorded vote by a margin of 84 to 30.

Goyle was the only Democrat in the House to vote in favor of the measure. This is out of character for the congressional hopeful. In 2009, according to vote rankings prepared by Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, 18 members of the Kansas House had a more liberal voting record than Goyle, while six had the same score as Goyle. There are 125 members in the House.

In the 2008 rankings prepared by the Kansas Taxpayers Network, only 11 of 125 members had a lower — meaning farther left on the political spectrum — score than Goyle.

This vote to end Kansas corporate income taxes also is surprising considering Goyle’s past employment with the Center for American Progress, an organization with a definite liberal agenda. It explicitly advocates for higher taxes to fund increased government spending.

So as I hope you can understand, I just had to put an astonisher after this headline. Goyle hasn’t responded to an email message requesting comment.

Update: In 2008 Goyle voted in favor of HB 2762, which proposed to reduce corporate income taxes by several measures. This bill passed the House by a wide margin.

Comments

13 responses to “Raj Goyle votes to end Kansas corporate income tax!”

  1. Virginia Crossland

    You can always try to outrun your bad voting record, but I have found that most bold moves like this are usually offered when they no the plan will be a sure failure. It is the same reason the senate committee failed the healthcare freedom act. When I contacted every Senator that voted it down, they all becames such litegators on language, procedure, ect. You can run Jean, Dewayne, but you will never be able to run that fast. See you in the next election!!!

  2. c.a. riley

    The astonisher is appropriate. I don’t know whether I’m more surprised or disappointed with this bit of news. I am almost more disappointed with Goyle’s lack of response than with his vote. He wasn’t like this when we lived in his district. That was before he admitted having higher aspirations.

  3. KipSchroeder

    Virginia, I’m so pleased that you too contacted our Senators who caused the Health Care Freedom act to fail in the Judicial committee. (Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer; Laura Kelly, D-Topeka; John Vratil, R-Leawood; Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita; and Tim Owens, R-Overland Park) I personally am appalled that these individuals refuse to protect my rights.

    In contrast to these I was very pleased with the following senators who supported the initiative with their votes: Derek Schmidt, R-Independence; Julia Lynn, R-Olathe; Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson; Mary Pilcher-Cook, R-Shawnee; Les Donovan, R-Wichita.

    I hope that others will follow your lead!

  4. Sheila

    Comical Raj! Too little and way too late. You are for bigger government and more taxes. No changing your stripes now. You can fool some of the people all of the time.

  5. Mercedes

    I believe it is posturing. While you’re at it, you can see District 4 Republican candidates doing the same thing – pretending at what they are not, social conservatives. As you point out, this is not how Goyle lives, but now he can use this vote on campaign literature to seem moderate. Hartman’s ads portray him as a pro-life family man, which is not how he lives his life either. You would hardly know that Pompeo graduated Law School and practiced for a DC law firm, as he only seems to discuss his military service. At least Schodorf and Anderson don’t pretend to be what they’re not. Schodorf freely expresses her moderate views and Anderson firmly shows his conservatism. Their stances I believe.

  6. p s

    In my opinion, I think that Mr. Goyl is the stereotypical dishonest politician who promises one thing then when elected does the opposite.
    You have to be a FAR, FAR left Progressive to work for the Center for American Progress. This is George Soros’ organization who is perhaps the main man behind the funding of the Progressive movement which is in the process of destroying American as our Founding Fathers intended it to be.
    Putting aside the question of whether or not Mr Goyl is a liberal or not, he did work with his liberal colleges to create our States budget deficit. I don’t think he can “fundamentally” change his philosophy.

  7. Staylork526

    Goyle’s manuver is a nice attempt to placate possible swing donors and give a sense that he is pro-growth/business. Nevermind the fact that he will be a rubber-stamp for the Pelosi/Obama financial destruction agenda.

    He scores 37 out of 100 on the American’s for Prosperity Conservative index (just one point below Jean Schodorf), All the money in the world won’t hide who he is.

    We need to focus on nominating a real conservative, without political loyalties or allegiances, someone that can be trusted. Do we really want to put our Harvard lawyer against their Harvard lawyer? Haven’t we been doing that for decades and we can’t seem to understand why nothing changes, and besides the rhetoric, nothing really changes in D.C.

  8. Jeffrey Locke

    A slick but transparent attempt to hide his liberal spots. As an earlier poster has stated, Jim Anderson is the only true conservative and he makes no bones for his support of the Fairtax, which would also eliminate the corporate income tax, as well as many others, effectively changing the federal paradigm of taxation from one of punishment to one purely of choice. Jim Anderson is the only candidate who has advocated strongly for the Fairtax who is still in the race. Please throw your support to his campaign and get it done for Jim!

  9. Ann H.

    Goyle was probably “allowed” or figured he could vote for it since every other Democrat voted against it, so he could look good for district 4 voters while the measure still got defeated.

    Goyle voted against the Health Care Freedom Amendment yesterday, so that tells you what you need to know about him.

  10. Dismal Scientist

    Raj is trying to pull a fast one. The only guy in the 4th District race that is honest and true blue is Jim Anderson. He is an outsider and not part of the political machine. God bless him!

  11. craig

    Well if we send this dude to Washington this fall he’ll fit right in with OBAMA and the gang. If you think the government is the do all fix all and the cure for everything he’s your man. He’ll tell you you can’t smoke in restaurants or anywhere including your car. He’ll tell you you must buy health insurance no matter what you think. He’ll voter for historic tax credits that give millions of your tax dollars away to rich developers, but projects like the historic Dunbar Theater don’t qualify. Ya Raj is the man!

  12. Rant & Rave

    Yet an individual that wavers on thier principles in the eyes of compromise? An individual that does not know where he stands? Possibly the inner self waking up to freedom? No, the jester is trying to entertain the hierarchy.

  13. No Fool

    Goyle is once again attempting to reinvent himself to be palatable to the uninformed voter. He is cut out of the same cloth as Obama whom he has wholeheartedly supported. The majority of contributions to his congressional campaign are from far-left, out-of-state organizations and individuals. He hopes to fool voters with a false image of himself, which includes occasionally casting the right vote. Rajeev Goyle is an opportunistic “wolf in sheep’s clothing”!

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