If anything came out of the third and final Moore-Kobach debate, it is that Kris Kobach still hasn't bought a thesaurus to find a word other than "utterly."
The talk focused on topics we've already covered, such as ergonomics, but we did get some new information regarding the minimum wage. Congressman Moore supports raising it, Kobach doesn't, reports Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star.
Kobach said he opposed increasing the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. He said pushing up the minimum wage would cause lost jobs.
"The minimum wage causes inefficiencies in our economy," Kobach said.
Sorry, millions Americans who earn the minimum wage, paying you the lowest inflation-adjusted minimum wage in decades already creates "inefficiencies." No raise for you.
Besides, can't your family get by on $10,712 a year?* Maybe you could cut out some "inefficiencies" like heating...or food.
Kobach also restated his support for a national sales tax, which he said would be "fairer" to Kansans. Or at least rich Kansans. Everyone else would pay more. A lot more.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that a federal sales tax would have to be set at between 45 and 53 percent to break even with current tax law and forget about a progressive tax system.
Put another way, on average the 80 percent of Americans in the middle- and lower-income ranges would pay 51 percent more in sales taxes than they now pay in the federal taxes that the proposed national sales tax would replace.
For Kansas, the ITEP estimates that the bottom 80% -- with a combined average income of $32,200 -- would pay $2,587 more per year.
The top 5% -- with a combined average income of $298,900 -- would pay $44,622 less per year.
Kobach also claims such a tax would "possibly" double the amount of economic growth compared to the current tax system.
Ignoring the fact that to balance the budget, any such tax would have to raise as much money as the current tax system, adding 40 or 50 percent to the cost of an item probably wouldn't spur sales. And businesses small and large surely wouldn't mind collecting a tax on behalf of the federal government.
That's a taxing effort and a tough sell.
* That's what $5.15 an hour works out to if multiplied by a 40 hour work week and 52 week year. No vacation time allowed, of course.
