Kansas economy hasn't been quite as good as Sam Brownback makes it out to be, and as a result several businesses are 'eating' their taxes - they pay late or not at all, and some of them quickly get into a major hole with what they owe the tax man.
The state of Kansas is pretty lenient to those who owe little - and those who work to pay it off. Not all businesses, though, seem to do that.
http://cjonline.com/...
Kansas state government is on the verge of a financial windfall with the auctioning of thousands of sex toys seized by the revenue department for nonpayment of income, withholding and sales taxes, an official said Wednesday.
Online shoppers for adult DVDs, novelty items, clothing and other products can participate in a bonanza shopping experience resulting from the four-county raid on a Kansas company known as United Outlets LLC.
Owner Larry Minkoff, who was doing business under the Bang label, apparently resisted requests from the Kansas Department of Revenue for payment of $163,986 in state taxes. It is unclear how much he still owes the state, because those precise records aren’t open to the public.
Minkoff's "Bang" label of sex stores operated in several areas of the state - Wichita, Topeka, Junction City amongst others, and by the time the state worked out a deal, the debt was massive.
http://www.kake.com/...
“Brownback is so desperate to fill the massive hole in the state budget caused by his reckless income tax cuts that the state of Kansas is now in the porn business,” Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley. “This is the same governor whose supporters spent this past week attacking his opponent for a strip club incident that happened 16 years ago.”
Eileen Hawley, Communications Director for Gov. Sam Brownback, gave the following statement regarding Sen. Hensley's comment:
"That's an incredibly ridiculous statement for anybody to make. We are following the law of the state of Kansas in terms of dealing with businesses that are in violation of state tax law. To infer that the state is doing anything other than that is ridiculous."
Brownback's aid is largely correct in their assessment.. state based seizure of assets and sale is not uncommon.
What Hensley is talking about is the breakup of lots for public auction rather than the seizure of entire property or the use of direct liens against those properties by the state instead. In other words, the question really becomes how many businesses are struggling to pay their sales tax burden while keeping their doors open.
The Kansas City Star nails this issue:
http://www.kansascity.com/...
From The Topeka Capital-Journal: “The online site lists about 400 lots — individual lots contain can dozens of items — that include the Pipedream Fantasy Love Swing, books, hundreds of DVDs, sex and drinking games, a wide assortment of sexually oriented equipment, the carrying cases for devices, the Glass Pleasure Wand, bundles of lingerie and the Cyberskin Foot Stroker.”
To be clear, state revenue officials should be aggressive in recouping back taxes owed by all kinds of businesses.
We do want the state of Kansas to work out something with those who fall behind on taxes - payments, structure, or in the case of those who completely avoid it, seizure.
It is unlikely that Kansas, through the seizure, will recoup the $163k they lost on uncollected sales tax - which would represent over a million dollars in sales throughout the state.
Those who were employed at these facilities of course are out of a job now, also reducing state income.
No matter what the product being sold is, the end goal of all sales is to generate revenue, hire employees, and build an environment for businesses.
In this case, another vibrating bunny bites the dust.
You can always join in the online auction for stacks of sex toys:
http://www.equip-bid.com/...