Our observation that Koch-Backed AFP Supports Higher Taxes on Food to Preserve Koch LLC Tax Loophole (Kansas) has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook and Twitter. Further research reveals that there were actually four separate Koch front groups lobbying to allow Koch pass-through LLCs to pay NO STATE INCOME TAXES, while more than 40 separate individuals, some representing actual small businesses, requested that the loophole to be closed. Meanwhile, a separate sample of small businesses in Koch Industries’ own backyard found that 80% of them believed they should be paying more taxes than they are.
The latest revelation comes from a story originally reported by Jade DeGood of Wichita’s KWCH, which has since been deleted from the KWCH website (we won’t speculate as to why a news site in Charles Koch’s backyard would pull a story unfavorable to Koch Industries). DeGood noted that:
It's not something you often hear, but for some Kansas businesses it's time to be taxed.
"We were the people that were standing up and saying 'Hey we would like to see it go back the way it was," said Bob Kreutzer, the Chief Financial Officer for Tatro Plumbing Company in Garden City.
Kreutzer was one of more than a dozen Kansas Business leaders who spoke with lawmakers in the Kansas House Committee on Taxation this week about the tax exemption they say is unfair.
In addition to the posted story, the article contained a document dump of 45 people’s testimony in favor of and 7 people’s testimony against a bill that would eliminate the LLC loophole while reducing food taxes that disproportionately affect poorer Kansas residents. We have not verified the completeness or authenticity of the source material we are in possession of. However, a review of the 7 organizations that opposed the bill reveals that four of them are Koch affiliates, while the remaining three opposed the bill but still wanted to see the LLC loophole closed.
A representative of Americans for Prosperity, co-founded and heavily funded by Koch Industries shareholders Charles Koch and David Koch, wrote:
On behalf of Americans for Prosperity activists across Kansas, thank you for this opportunity to voice our opposition to HB 2444. This bill would reverse the progress that Kansas has made toward reducing the income tax burden on Kansas small businesses.
A representative of the National Federation of Independent Business, which SourceWatch reports to have "got[ten] more money [in 2012] from a group backed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch than any other single source” wrote:
The NFIB opposes HB2444, which wallops Kansas small businesses with an over $260 million income tax punch
A representative of The Kansas Chamber, which counts Koch Industries representative Mike Morgan as a member of both its Board and Executive Committee wrote:
The Kansas Chamber appreciates the opportunity to testify in opposition to House Bill 2444 which intends to roll back the small business tax cuts from 2012 and use most of that revenue to buy down food sales tax to 2.6%.
Finally, a representative of the Kansas Policy Institute, part of the Koch-funded State Policy Network, wrote:
We appreciate this opportunity to present testimony in opposition to HB 2444, which we believe would have a negative impact on economic growth and job creation
Of the three other non-Koch-affiliates who testified against the bill, it appears that NONE opposed the bill because they wanted to keep the LLC tax loophole.
This level of AstroTurf begs the question as to why Koch Industries is lobbying so hard to keep a loophole that nobody else seems to want. We have our view:
Since the original source material for this story is elusive, we have zipped the written testimony that we downloaded and uploaded it to FileDropper. Given how explosive this content is, we would really appreciate if somebody would upload it to FreeNet, create a Torrent, and post the download details in the comments.