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State Officials Speak To Small Business Owners On Empowerment Tour

Carla Eckels

State officials stopped in Wichita Wednesday as part of their Kansas Small Business Empowerment Tour.

The officials focused on tax reform and economic development across the state.

Kansas Commerce Secretary Pat George, Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan and Labor Secretary Karin Brownlee met with Wichita business owners and other residents to discuss tax reform changes for 2013.

Secretary George says small businesses make up more than 90 percent of the jobs in the state and nationwide. 

“We did several changes in tax policy to make it easier to do business here in Kansas,” says George. “And this helps the guy that has two guys working for him or 20 people or 40 people, and so it kind of levels the playing field.”

George says the tax changes makes the state a more inviting place for businesses moving to Kansas as well as helping existing ones.

“We lowered the overall tax rate,” he says, “there used to be three rates with the highest at 6.4 now the highest is 4.9 and the lowest is 3.0.”

“Everyone that pays in taxes will receive a tax break plus the small businesses which many of them are organized as sub-chapter S’s or LLC’s or sole proprietorships, they will pay zero income tax on the non-wage portion of their businesses. So it will be a boost for them. ”
  
Cabinet officials also discussed the Rural Opportunity Zones program designed to encourage job growth through incentives offered in rural parts of Kansas.

Other stops on the two-day tour included Hutchinson, Independence and Dodge City.

Carla Eckels is Director of Organizational Culture at KMUW. She produces and hosts the R&B and gospel show Soulsations and brings stories of race and culture to The Range with the monthly segment In the Mix. Carla was inducted into The Kansas African American Museum's Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2020 for her work in broadcast/journalism.