Jennings: Improving Tax Policy, Education Cornerstones of Campaign

Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com) The battle is on to get their message out in the race for House District 122 between 1^st term incumbent Russ Jennings and challenger Stan Rice.  Taxes and the drive to phase out the income tax are sure to become a major issue in the campaign.  Jennings wants to tie the economy and tax rates together.

Jennings anticipates with revenues not meeting expectations that tax rates will remain the same for now despite some calls for further reductions.

Jennings voted against the additional $129 million dollars for education this session, but it is not because the bill stripped away teacher tenure.  There was another part of the legislation that gave $10 million dollars in tax breaks to companies that provided scholarships at private schools.

Jennings was fine with having a discussion on whether or not to eliminate teacher tenure, but was disappointed that the bill passed in the middle of the night and without talking about the most controversial part of the measure. 

From schools to the economy. Unemployment in Finney County is around 3.5 percent.  Jennings believes there is one thing holding back from producing even better results.