Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Thursday February 10, 2011

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Politicians’ Top 10 Promises Gone Wrong. This Monday (February 14) Americans for Prosperity will show the 2010 John Stossel documentary “Politicians’ Top 10 Promises Gone Wrong.” For a preview and interview with Stossel, click here. For my reporting and review of the show, click on Stossel on politicians’ promises. … This event, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, will be held on Monday, February 14 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Lionel D. Alford Library located at 3447 S. Meridian in Wichita. The library is just north of the I-235 exit on Meridian. For more information on this event contact John Todd at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415.

Cabela’s to seek community improvement district tax. It should come as no surprise that when a major retailer comes to Wichita, they will take advantage of the state’s community improvement district law. If approved, formation of the CID would allow Cabela’s to charge an extra tax on its sales. In this case, according to Wichita Eagle reporting, the tax will be 1.2 cents per dollar. … Sources tell me that this is likely not the only special tax treatment Cabela’s will seek. Look for an application for tax abatements through IRBs or the EDX program. This would fit right in with Cabela’s notoriety for squeezing all it can from government. … As these CIDs spread across Wichita, we are, in effect, experiencing a sales tax increase, drip by drip.

Kansas legislature website. The Kansas legislature’s website is improving. A huge irritation remains, however: when pdf documents are presented, they’re in a “fancy” non-standard window that reduces the usability of the site. On an Iphone, the documents can’t be read, as the fancy window wants to do its own scrolling. … Sometimes clicking on a link produces the wrong document, as just now on the house of Representatives page, I clicked on “Session 20 – Wed Feb 09 2011 PDF” and was presented with the Senate’s journal for January 31. … Judging by the log of completed features added each day and by the list of things promised, it’s clear that this site is still in development. Doing this during the session was a terrible lapse of judgment. … Listed are “Special reports for members” such as “House and Senate Subject Index with bill status.” Why, I wonder, should this be available only for members?

Comments

4 responses to “Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Thursday February 10, 2011”

  1. diesel

    Is there a list somewhere published on the internet of all the CIDs in Wichita and surrounding areas with the percentage of sales tax in each CID?

  2. The city council decided to have a list of the CIDs and the tax rates on the city’s website as a way of notifying people of the taxes. But so far it appears this list does not exist.

  3. Anonymous Mike

    Hi

    As a customer of Cabelas for more than 20 years, I’m writing them to ask that they not use any tax incentives for their new building. I probably won’t buy their stuff anymore if they do. By the way, the shirt, pants, and boots I’m wearing are all from Cabelas.

  4. George

    The CID information not showing up on the City of Wichita website is part of the “transparency in government” program at the City. Say one thing and do the opposite. By the way, Mayor Brewer is running campaign advertising claiming that he is for government transparency and that he has created jobs (Ooops, doubling unemployment maybe).

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