I hate to be the turd in the punch bowl of Kansas City civic leaders, but I think their push for a 20-year, half-cent sales tax to go toward medical research is a bad idea right now.
Civic and educational leaders, including Donald J. Hall Sr. of Hallmark Cards and UMKC chancellor Leo Morton, are urging the Jackson County Legislature to approve a measure for the Nov. 5 ballot that would raise the sales tax in Kansas City, Jackson County, to almost 9 percent.
The legislature could vote on the measure at its meeting next Monday. The legislature has until the end of the month — a week from Saturday — to approve the measure.
Kansas City area residents first learned about this on Aug. 8, when The Star’s Mike Hendricks and Alan Bavley had a front-page story, laying out the details.
In a nutshell, the tax would generate about $40 million a year. Half the proceeds would go to Children’s Mercy Hospital; St. Luke’s Health System and UMKC would each get 20 percent; and the remaining 10 percent — $400,000 a year — “would go to further economic initiatives, such as helping train research assistants at the Metropolitan Community Colleges,” according to The Star.
A couple of the big selling points that proponents will harp on are that:
:: The bulk of the money will go toward “translational research,” which, essentially, means “translating” scientific discoveries into drugs, procedures and devices that will quickly help patients.
:: This is an opportunity “to bring in rock star researchers who can develop a product that can be turned into a start-up company,” according to a researcher whom The Star’s story quoted.
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This is going to be a well-planned and well-financed campaign. Political consultant Steve Glorioso has been hired, probably along with running mate Pat Gray, to sell the campaign to the public. The Civic Council (consisting of the chief executives of the largest companies in the area) and the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City will provide the muscle and money.
From here on out, I’m just going to call this the Civic Council Sales Tax.
The Civic Council already has this proposal moving down the tracks, and it’s going to be hard to stop. The only way it’s going to be defeated is if a majority of voters take a look at it and, like me, scratch their heads and say, “Why?”
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Here are some of the reasons I think the Civic Council Sales Tax is a bad idea at this time.
1) At something like 8.3 or 8.4 percent in Kansas City, Jackson County, the sales tax is plenty high. It’s a regressive tax, which disproportionately hits people with lower incomes. As a Kansas City resident named Don Biggs said in an Aug. 20 letter to the editor: “Enough is enough.”
2) The ballot language will say the tax would be imposed for 20 years, but fat chance of it ending then. Jackson County’s quarter-cent COMBAT tax (Community Backed Anti-drug Tax), initially approved in 1989, was to be collected for seven years. Voters re-approved it in 1996, 2003 and 2009…Once enacted, sales taxes tend to become as stationary as redwoods in California.
3) The county would be levying and collecting this tax. Almost any tax that comes through Jackson County is, to me, suspect. (COMBAT?) Also, this is the same county that thoroughly botched the property reappraisal process this year and had to pull the plug on increased (and erroneous) property assessments for thousands and thousands of homeowners. The debacle cost the assessment director his job. County Executive Mike Sanders got off without too much egg on his face, partly because this was the first big, embarrassing mistake the county made on his watch. (By the way, Sanders is a big proponent of the Civic Council Sales Tax.)
4) Kansas City already has one humongous health-care research institution, the Stowers Institute on Volker Boulevard. They’ve got a bunch of “rock star researchers” over there, but I sure haven’t heard about any revolutionary, make-you-stand-on-your-head discoveries that have changed the course of medicine.
5) I would bet that a majority of Civic Council members and Chamber of Commerce board members Kansas residents. In a sense, they want to impose the tax on Missouri residents. Do we want Kansans, who enjoy the city’s major cultural and sporting facilities virtually tax free, calling the shots on our side of the line?
6) When I look at the sky-high medical-service charges that go through my Medicare account and my Blue Cross/Blue Shield supplemental plan, I think that the most pressing priority is health-care reform.
I’m talkin’ REFORM, as in bringing charges DOWN to something approaching a reasonable, logical level.
How in the world would “rock star researchers” help bring down costs? Won’t happen, right? All they would do is add fuel to the health-care rocket ship.
I encourage you, then, Jackson County residents, to do as I plan to do: Vote “No” on the Civic Council Sales Tax.
Correction: It’s Donald Hall Jr. who’s out front for the sales tax.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Fitz,
I agree. The County charges taxes on citizens and do not always steal. Some new taxes are solid. But this should come from the private sector. Why on earth would people in Jackson County agree and vote yes on this tax, when the most we know about the ACA is former Sen. ben Nelson’s bribe we acepted, until it was expoosed.
I am with you Jim – voters do your homework and vote NO on this tax.
” The Civic Council (consisting of the chief executives of the largest companies in the area) and the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City will provide the muscle and money.”
And there in one sentence is a listing of who actually controls KCMO (and The Star, at least during Brisbane’s tenure). Tried to go to the link, but it was broken. I read another one about the debate over who pays for the election. Was that it?
Thanks for letting me know about the link, John; I failed to verify that the link worked before setting it up. It’s fixed now.
This is a variation on the theme that Dolph Simons exposed in a fantastic series of editorials during Kathleen Sebeljevich’s regime wherein the hospitals on the Missouri side were trying to grab the profit centers from KU Med (with Sebeljevich’ and the Atkinson woman’s help), but leaving the good citizens of Kansas with the losers. That cost KU Med the outstanding CEO that had brought it back from the edge of bankruptcy
That was a project that had been in the works with the usual suspects in the Johnson County “moderate” mafia assisting Sebeljevich for over 3 years, and Simons singlehandedly shut it down (with no help from The Star whatsoever) with minimal damage to KU Med. It was journalism at its finest.
Giving credit where credit is due, Hendricks piece at
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/13/4408276/legislators-grumble-over-plans.html
is not one I would have expected from The Star (or Hendricks). Good job, Mike.
I’m very glad you made that link, John…I missed that story, and it is very important.
For one thing, I did not know that “as of Tuesday, $100,000…had been raised (for the campaign) with a single contribution from the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.”
I also didn’t know about the flap over who — the county or the measure’s supporters — would pay for the cost of what amounts to a special election. Nothing else would be on the ballot, apparently.
Nice article Fitz.
Let me ask you this question. Has this tax been passed in similar form in any other city and has it turned out well for the tax payers?
The commenters here on this blog, have most of us at a disadvantage, in that they are now, or have been involved in or aware of the arcane and mysterious machinations of government up close and personal.
When I read what John, or Larry, Rick et al post, I know that they probably know the players and hidden agendas.
Schmucks like me, get down to City Hall for traffic court and that is about it.
There are any number of articles on Detroits sky high tax rate, we would do well to take notice.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/07/29/virtually-unreported-detroits-bankruptcy-came-sky-high-tax-rates-not-sma
I don’t know if a similar tax has been passed in any other city, Chuck. That’s a good question. I’ll see what I can turn up.
Don’t give too much credit, though, to me, John, Larry or Rick for knowing “the players and hidden agendas.” None of us is on the inside. I was on the inside from 1985 to 1995, when I covered City Hall, but once you’re out, the knowledge of who’s doing what and why slips away pretty quickly. There are trends, of course, but the details, which are so important, are difficult to figure out from arm’s length and beyond.
One thing I have learned about this situation is that Sanders has engineered a piece of the pie for the county and now Rev. James Tindall, a county legislator, is trying to wangle a piece for the African American community.
In other words, the fight over the pie is is full tilt. Look for legislators representing the West Side and south Kansas City to grab for a fistful of fruit, too.
Chuck, here are the kind of the things I look for in these stories.
“This is an opportunity “to bring in rock star researchers who can develop a product that can be turned into a start-up company,””
Who is going to own and profit from that that company? I don’t think the locals are just going to sit back and watch someone else pocket the rewards for their efforts.
The basic principle of this stuff is usually “If they don’t build it (i.e. Union Station), or spend it (i.e. the $12 million no-bid Water Department customer service contract that Tony Botello reported on), they can’t steal from it.”
As I mentioned above, this project is a variation on a theme that they’ve been working on for years to expand the medical training and research facilities at local KCMO hospitals.
Clearly, the stated goal itself is never evil (even though the methods used to obtain the goal can be quite suspect) leading to the question we discussed, Fitz of what level of homage do you have to pay to lining the pockets of local elites to make civic improvements work?
A second question I always think about is do the players really care about the eventual long-term success of the project (again, think Union Station), or are they only interested in what they can get from the short-term effort of building the project?
In this case, I think there is a sincere interest in the long-term goal of making KCMO a medical research and training center. That’s not to say that there won’t be room for plenty of profit making in the process (and is that a horrible thing) and so we move to the question Fitz raises of do we need to tax the public to do this project?
Fitz says no, but I’m betting he’s on the outs with the editorial board of The Star unless there has been a drastic change in mentality in the publisher’s office.
John — Thanks for the nod, but to suggest that I ever had any influence with the editorial board is off the mark…It will be very hard for The Star to be against the Civic Council Sales Tax precisely because the Civic Council and the Chamber of Commerce have so much power. Their members probably will be leaning on publisher Mi-Ai Parrish, and she will have the ultimate say.
Exactly my point. In my experience The Star is first and foremost a promoter of these scams. I’m just enjoying the continuing acts of journalism you’re committing as an independent. Great stuff.
If there is one cost cutting measure that could be taken that would improve the quality of The Star it would be to cancel the publisher’s membership at the River Club.
Some of the faces change, but more than any elected official, I take note whenever I see the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, The Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City (and its subordinates in KCK and OP) and the Civic Council. That’s where the power and the money are. They may drop a little chump change off to grease the skids through local politicos, but anytime I see those names I know there’s a train coming down the tracks behind them (again, which may not always be entirely a bad thing).
“If they build it, they can steal from it.”
That, I can take to the bank (Where they will steal from me.).
Thanks, that is an excellent explanation for us rubes.
:)
Worthy of serious consideration by Jackson County voters. Key question – are there other county priorities more worthy?