An editorial from The Hays Daily News

Where are we headed?

Until an investigative reporter for the Wichita Eagle uncovered a massive discrepancy in the numbers Gov. Sam Brownback was touting, the state’s chief executive was able to boast of the remarkable turnaround Kansas was experiencing since he entered office.

Crediting his administration for enacting $2 billion in budget cuts in presentations around the state, the governor began offering other reforms to downsize and streamline government. At the top of Brownback’s wish list was a dramatic cut in state income taxes. Other big-ticket items included less interference from the judicial branch, more control over the distribution of education funding, not only a refusal to expand the Medicaid program under the federal health care overhaul but privatizing the administration of the state network, a reshuffling of departments, and further calls for going down the “glide path” to zero state income tax.

Sneaky Sam: Adding another layer to his dream tax plan

That Sneaky Sam Brownback. Always true to his back-room, closed-door, spring-it-on-’em, career-politician-style of governing.

Everyone knows that when the Kansas governor lays his head down on the bed at Cedar Crest, the governor’s mansion in Topeka, that he has dreams of eliminating one of the most popular tax deductions used by some 315,000 Kansans: The deduction of the interest payments made on home mortgages.