by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Kansas State Governor Sam Brownback was in Wellington to speak at the Kansas Ag Day Expo at Memorial Auditorium this morning as part of the Kansas Wheat Festival. Brownback spoke for almost 35 minutes on various agriculture issues and fielded a few questions thereafter.

While Brownback spoke mostly on agricultural matters he did touch on his controversial income tax plan at the end of the question and answer presentation.

“I’ve never read so much gobbledegook when it comes to taxes in my life as I do with your plan,” said Larry Steckline, host of the Steckline Report and emcee for the event. “You talk to 10 people and there are five people for and five against your income tax plan. Can you explain what you are trying to do?”

The following was Brownback’s response:

“(The Kansas taxpayers) are going to have to pay less in income and sales taxes. Here is what we are after. Bob Dole is turning 90. When he first ran from Russell he represented the sixth district in Kansas. We now have four congressional districts and it could soon be three. We were the 27th most populated state in the U.S. when he started in office. We are now 32nd and if trends continue we will be the 33rd.

“We are not growing as fast as the regional states are and the country at large. We need growth.

“I’m trying to get our tax policy in line for growth. Most, but not all, of the fastest growing states are low income tax states. On the flip side the states with the highest income taxes have the slowest growth.

“Kansas has had the highest income taxes in the region with Nebraska slightly higher. We were losing ground to everyone in the region but Nebraska.

“I know farmers are concerned with property taxes, and they should be. But I’m trying to stimulate growth. There is a real killer graph that shows there were more new LLC filings in Kansas than we ever had lately. In the last eight months in the Kansas City area, all the growth has been on the Kansas side. None has been in Missouri.

“You can’t grow without jobs. We are even seeing rural growth for the first time in years. We have been losing 10 percent of population per decade in the last half century. Some counties have lost 25 percent of the population.

Now we are seeing rural stability and growth. I’m ecstatic about that.”

The Kansas Ag Day Expo is going all day. U.S. Senator Pat Roberts spoke at 2 p.m. via satellite. He will not be making a personal appearance in Wellington.

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