Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is instituting a variety of cuts to create a smaller state government. Part of that is reducing several taxes, including income taxes. But he’s also proposing to eliminate deduction for interest on home mortgages. Would that be a help or a hindrance in the state’s attempts to close its budget gap?

Todd Miller: It will never happen!

Susan Loyacono: baddddddddd move

Kathy Kovack Berwanger: ouch!

Dave Redlin: We have seen how important a strong housing market is! This governor obviously doesn’t!

Jason Brock: Ha ha — target the little people, eh? They voted for him.

Jo Dee Moore Berger: Eliminating home owner deduction hurts several groups: 1. Middle class homeowners. 2. All businesses associated with building and selling and financing homes. Hmmmmm. How does that help the economy?

Barry Poole: If this happens, I will sell my home and move to another state. Brownback is the absolute worst governor this state has ever had. How much more does he think the middle class of his state can take? I call for a mass exodus; leave the state high and dry, and see how he runs the Capitol without any capital.

Kibble: Well, well….who will this primarily hurt? Johnson Countians, who by far own the highest-priced real estate in the state. paulmckc: This is one of the few deductions middle class and poor homeowners have, and as usual Blowback wants to make sure that these two classes of people stay indentured servants to the banks and mortgage companies for as long as they possibly can!

masscraft: Get rid of the deduction for those making over $400K. Let the rest of us alone.

BrianVincent: That deduction is already gone for them, genius. Of course, you wouldn’t know about AMT - Alternative Minimum Tax because the media makes you believe there are many deductions for the rich.

masscraft: Now you’re playing tax games. The question on the table is regarding the mortgage deduction. It shouldn’t be used to buy houses that cost over $500K or for second homes. It should provide middle class people with an advantage, not rich people. It should be eliminated based either on income and/or mortgage size so that those that can easily afford to live without it out, do. Other taxes should be evaluated separately.

TheGrouch: I have no issue with this as the concept was originally created as an economic incentive whose unintended consequence led to the financial depression crisis of the last decade. No one has a “right” to own a home, nor does everyone need to own one. However, if you’re going to get rid of the mortgage interest deduction for home owners, it should also be extended to developers of multi-family dwellings too. A renter should not be given a financial benefit over a home owner, if equal rights are at all important.

Lisa Alvars: I will give up my home mortgage deduction and take the lower taxes in a second. Why is Kansas spending a dime on public broadcasting? Higher education has increased their spending beyond the cost of living each of the last 10 years. It isn’t a cut until the state is actually spending less.

trouble: Apparently, you don’t read much data on higher education. Using the University of Kansas as an example, the budget increase between 2004 and 2012 was 9.7%. The state contribution to KU increased 9.6%. The COLA (cost of living adjustment) increase for the same period was 23.5%. Such underfunding of higher education in Kansas leads to a “brain drain” where the best and brightest students attend school out of state and never come back. Spending on education is the single most important thing a state can do to promote future growth. You’d rather have lower taxes and de-fund education. Go figure.

A proposal being debated by a Kansas House panel would ban public employee unions from automatically deducting money from members’ paychecks for political activities, essentially forcing unions to ask members to write checks that could back campaigns. Is that really an attempt to quash unions, especially teachers unions, as some critics allege?

Misty Dawn Michael: This country will go down the drain of we get rid of unions.

Susan Loyacono: So now the right to negotiate a better deal should only be one sided? Ah, I see.

Evan M. Parris: Duh…of course. Why else would they propose it?

Ben Hyde: The country is going down the hole because of unions.

Christie Newman: For sure it’s an attempt to squash unions and that’s not good. Unions gave rise to a strong middle class in this country which brought about a more educated, secure demographic. Let unions disappear and quality of life spirals downward except for the 1% on top.

Domenic Serrone: Anyone that believes that unions should be eradicated — go ahead and explain to me why you think unions are now unnecessary. Tell me, what is in place to protect workers wages, benefits and workplace safety and why we can do away with Unions. Also, you might think it’s irrelevant, but it’s not. Explain to me what the Second Amendment protects.

palooka62: “Union leaders see the payroll deduction as a convenient way to facilitate free speech.” That’s a laugh. It’s not free speech to union members if they are forced to pay for speech they don’t agree with.

trouble : This proposal is a good one, but doesn’t go far enough. Unions, business and industry should all be banned for forcing employees to make payroll deductions for political purposes. Voluntary deductions should be allowed.

Aheadontheleft : No one is being forced to pay for anything they don’t want to pay for. Union membership is voluntary. So are political contributions. If you as a union member don’t agree with your union’s political stances, you are free to choose not to make political donations or to join the committee that decides how that political fund spends its money. … What the Chamber of Commerce folks apparently don’t realize is public employees cannot be forced to join unions. Their membership is strictly voluntary. Unions work to persuade potential members to join. And any pressure or mistreatment by their employers only pushes the workers towards joining the union. So these tactics are actually helping unions in Kansas grow their membership. Workers also don’t join unions to make political statements. They join because they feel vulnerable and understand that united we bargain while divided we beg.