TOPEKA — Senate President Ty Masterson’s “broader picture” for tax policy changes came into focus Monday with
a plan that involves rolling back tax relief on food so the state can afford to cut income taxes for the highest wage
earners.

The Senate tax committee passed a flat tax plan that would lower the income tax rate for all wage brackets to
4.75% at an estimated cost of about $566 million in the next calendar year. The impact on state revenue would be
lessened by applying the sales tax on food to just “healthy” items.

“Is this meant to only help those less fortunate? I think the answer is no,” Masterson said. “They’re to be helped,
but it’s to help all Kansans, not just those less fortunate, because the structure’s there. The best thing for them is
a job. We can’t keep on the train of buying economic development. You have to put a tax structure in place where
those jobs remain. And so that helps everybody.”

Masterson’s proposal would repeal the gradual elimination of state sales tax on food, which would reduce annual
revenues by about $450 million when fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2025. Instead, Senate Bill 248 would exempt
select food items from both state and local sales tax, reducing state revenues by about $284 million in the next
fiscal year.

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