I believe that taxes should be as low as possible, and as a state representative I’ve voted to provide tax relief for the people of our state. When I ran for office, I ran on a platform of repealing the sales tax on food. 38 states don’t even tax the food that we buy at grocery stores at all, and Kansas has one of the highest sales tax rates on food in the nation.

Earlier this year, I fulfilled that promise by co-sponsoring HB 2487, a bill which would’ve immediately repealed the sales tax on food. This was actually a Democratic bill, and I was one of only six Republicans to cosponsor this bill. I received some criticism from some members of my party for co-sponsoring this bill, because it was a Democratic bill, and they said I would just be helping Governor Kelly. I simply didn’t care, because doing what’s right for the people of our state is what’s important to me, not engaging in partisan politics.

Later in the year, Representative Jim Gartner made a procedural motion to bring this bill to the house floor to vote on. Again, I defied my party and voted in favor of this motion. I joined ten other Republicans and every Democrat by voting to bring this bill to the house floor. Ultimately, this effort failed, and I voted in favor of a bill to phase out the sales tax on food by 2025. This bill, HB 2106, easily passed both the house and the senate.

I voted for the bill because it was a step in the right direction, but I was disappointed that the sales tax on food won’t be reduced until 2023. I support immediate tax relief for the people of our state.