Subject: Public Finance

• Your Tax Dollars at Work

  April 15, 2008

• East Bay Writer Worked From the Inside at H&R Block

  April 18, 2008

• Kansas budget woes: School funding? Or the economy, stupid?

  Bruce Baker thought he escaped Kansas' school funding wars when he moved to the east coast to teach at Rutgers University. But a couple of weeks ago, the school finance expert got sucked back in by Kansas Liberty, the self-professed "fair and factual" news source that's partially owned by conservative state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook. Kansas Liberty cited a study released earlier this month -- "The Relationship Between School Funding and Student Achievement in Kansas Public Schools" -- in which Kans

  December 23, 2008

• Mayor Mark Funkhouser responds to failure of the recall effort

  Mayor Mark Funkhouser released this statement Saturday night on the results of the recall effort:Every day since I have been elected has been a challenge. Every issue I have tackled has had opponents. As I said in my State of the City Address, change is hard. My critics, the organizers of this effort, clearly do not like the status quo being challenged. But that is the reason I was elected to begin with. I plan to continue carrying out the agenda I laid out in the State of the City.To those of

  May 30, 2009

• Return To Sender

  August 8, 2002

• Family-planning concession may cost Kansas

  In an effort to blunt Republican objections to the federal stimulus bill, President Obama has asked Democrats to pull the provision that would help provide contraceptives to poor women.The decision may impact Kansas more than most places. Historically, the Sunflower State ranks near the bottom in public funding for contraceptive services. According to a 2005 analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, public expenditures for contraceptive services fell by 32 percent in Kansas from 1994 to 2001.The Gut

  January 28, 2009

• Best Bureaucrat

  October 17, 2002

• KMBC: Funkhouser recall fails

  KMBC Channel 9's Micheal Mahoney reports that the effort to recall Kansas City's oversized novelty Mayor Mark Funkhouser has come up short. Mahoney's super-secret sources tell him that the recall "fell a couple hundred signatures short." The recall group needed 16,950 signatures from Kansas City voters.The results will be announced later Saturday afternoon. The recall group had predicted victory earlier this week. In his "State of the City" speech, Funkhouser said: "I know that there are some pe

  May 30, 2009

• Highway Robbery

  December 18, 2003

• Daily Briefs: It's more of a Federal stimulus coupon, really.

  The Mid-America Regional Council stepped outside wearing its raincoat and galoshes, unfurled its money umbrella and waited for the torrent of federal stimulus money to come raining down all over it. Because when federal stimulus money comes raining down out of the sky, you're going to get fucking soaked with money. Then, realizing the sun was still shining and birds were chirping, the council lowered its umbrella, looked to the left and right, and then a tiny sprinkle of about $27 million fel

  February 25, 2009

• Buy your cigarettes now. Cigarette tax two days away

  Flickr: Valerie EverettIf you smoke, this post won't be news because you've noticed the price of cigarettes jump in the past two weeks. Tobacco companies are getting ready for the increased federal tobacco tax by raising their own prices. (Can someone explain how tobacco companies raising the price of a pack 80 cents will help consumers "adjust," as the companies have put it? It just seems a way to eke more profit.)On Wednesday, the federal tax will go from 39 cents per pack to $1.01. All the ex

  March 30, 2009

• With all of his talk about the “middle class,” Congressman Sam Graves sounds like the idiot on Main Street

  January 22, 2009

• Six ways the city has wrecked a vital agency. Two projects that work anyway.

  January 8, 2009

• It’s time to call bullshit on conservatives’ tired argument about Democrats and tax increases

  August 28, 2008

• Missouri gubernatorial candidate Sarah Steelman is campaigning against the earnings tax. If only she'd sub it out for a land tax

  May 22, 2008

• Nickeled- and-Dimed

  That latté you're drinking includes a shot of taxation without representation.

  August 16, 2007

• Tax Relief

  August 2, 2007

• Lifestyles of the Rich and Subsidized

  Kansas City has an expensive habit of paying for every developer’s champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

  May 26, 2005

• Letters from the week of June 28

  June 28, 2007

• Crossroads Cruelty

  June 14, 2007

• The Shaft

  February 22, 2007

• Thanks. Now Scram

  February 1, 2007

• Low-Quality Hill

  August 17, 2006

• Extreme Makeover: Taxman Edition

  May 11, 2006

• Silent Night

  December 22, 2005

• He’s No Angel

  Developer Wayne Reeder may have a prison record, but the city’s banking on him.

  September 16, 2004

• High-Class Handout

  Tax incentives help trim the décor of luxury condos near the Plaza.

  May 20, 2004

• War Games

  The Liberty Memorial Association wants Kansas Citians to finish a job they never approved.

  February 5, 2004

• Straight to Video

  Who will be the city's next tax break survivor?

  January 29, 2004

• Dude Where's the Party

  Local Democrats cross political lines to support their favorite pork producer — Senator Kit Bond.

  January 8, 2004

• Busted

  Rich developers helped bankrupt the city's bus system, and now you're being asked to bail it out.

  October 23, 2003

• He's The Scrap Man

  Bankruptcy-claiming, codes violating Tom Wright reigns over blocks of junked-up Troost.

  July 10, 2003

• That's the Breaks

  Far be it from the outgoing City Council to set a policy.

  April 10, 2003

• Bad Company

  Lawrence learns a hard lesson about corporate promises.

  March 20, 2003

• Cash Test

  Ford fights a tax increase by treating Claycomo officials like dummies.

  January 9, 2003

• Legal Vacancy

  A big-shot lawyer loses his touch with a city board.

  July 18, 2002

• Mary Quite Contrary

  In the battle over school funding, moderate Johnson County Republicans say Mary Pilcher Cook is their worst teachers' pest.

  July 18, 2002

• Blight Crawlers

  Bannister Mall developers feed on the bottom.

  February 14, 2002

• Tax Dodge

  Lawsuits defile H&R Block's credibility.

  April 12, 2001

• Déjà Vu All Over Again

  Overland Park may soon hear a giant sucking sound: Sprint going the way of Hoechst Marion Roussel.

  July 13, 2000

• The Cost of the Game

  Kansas and Missouri legislators are crafting a second bistate tax proposal with the help of major league sports teams and the business community. Some people, including economists, raise questions about what taxpayers will get for their money -- if anyt

  March 30, 2000

• TIF plans look good on paper because they’re not telling the whole story

  May 14, 2009

• Senate proposes crazy taxes on beer, wine and liquor

  A wise philosopher (actually just a professor of mine) once said that history doesn't repeat but it does follow trends. I thought of that quote when reading that the U.S. Senate is considering a proposal to raise the federal excise tax on wine 233 percent, on beer 145 percent and on liquor 20 percent. Doesn't the Senate know what happened the last time the country was in a crippling economy and alcohol was hard to get? It's also proposing a "sugar-sweetened beverage excise tax."Those are just tw

  May 22, 2009

• Beer enemies join forces

  The film Beer Wars painted the world of brewing as a ferocious battle between little guys such as Dogfish Head and New Belgium being bullied by the multi-national giants of Miller, Coors and especially Anheuser-Busch. One of director Anat Baron's targets was the powerful lobbying group the Beer Institute, which she implied was the bane of the small brewer, pushing only the agenda of Anheuser-Busch. According to The Atlantic, though, The Beer Institute has now joined forces with its arch-nemesis,

  June 10, 2009

• JoCo swigs martini, rakes in stimulus cash

  V.P. Biden, with current and former Kansas governors, in OP​After going for McCain-Palin in the 2008 election, Johnson County is reaping the benefits of an Obama administration. The nonprofit news organization Pro Publica has broken down stimulus spending by region, and Republican Johnson County is riding the gravy train.JoCo has received $199 in stimulus money per capita. The national average is $181. The Kansas average is $176.Wyandotte County, where unemployment sits at 9.8 percent, has rec

  August 11, 2009

• Kansas City gets more money for cops

  ​The Kansas City Police Department is getting even more stimulus money. Kansas City's share of the Barack bucks is $2.55 million, which a release says will go to keep police on the streets and "civilian support positions."Other stimulus lottery winners:Jackson County: $1,130,734Independence: $416,746Grandview: $90,600Lee's Summit: $62,699Blue Springs: $43,276Raytown: $41,572Sugar Creek: $10,050Add the $2.55 million to the $8.3 million federal grant the KCPD scored to keep 28 recruits and 22 a

  August 14, 2009

• STAR, TIF... WTF?

  Courtesy of Populous​Owners of the Kansas City Wizards now want to build a stadium at Village West in Kansas City, Kansas. In this week's feature, I describe how the decision jolted public officials in Kansas City, Missouri, who thought the Wizards were going to kick soccer balls at the site of the old Bannister Mall.KCK's capture of the Wizards is being credited to Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds. A state program, STAR bonds essentially created Kansas Speedway and the Village West shopping

  September 16, 2009

• Police catch up with Letti Strait

  Letti Strait​Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd announced yesterday that authorities were hunting for Letti Strait on tax evasion charges. The 48-year-old Parkville woman made headlines in 2007 when her ex-husband, Charles Cammisano, was found shot several times at his Riverside home. Police considered Strait and another man "persons of interest" in the unsolved murder; Strait was taken into police custody after a standoff, but later released. No charges have been filed in Cammisano's death.&

  October 27, 2009

• P&L District's worth fluctuates at Cordish's convenience

  ​When the Cordish Co. officials want to impress, they say the Power & Light District represents an $850 million investment. But when the time comes for the company to pay taxes on the downtown development, its value falls off a cliff.For the second consecutive year, Cordish has fought Jackson County's determination of the worth of the Power & Light District. In 2008, Cordish sued the county, arguing that a segment of the district appraised at $61 million was really worth $12 million. T

  October 27, 2009

• Not to be outdone by American Airlines, Missouri cuts 700 jobs

  Jay Nixon dropped the ax today​Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced today that 700 jobs will be cut to make up for a shortfall in state tax revenues. Prime Buzz says the cuts are on top of $430 million in budget slashing earlier this year. Add that on top of American Airlines closing its overhaul base at Kansas City International Airport (and the announcement of 700 job cuts nationwide), and it's been a really bad day.

  October 28, 2009