Gov. Sam Brownback and his celebrity tax policy consultant, Arthur Laffer, said Tuesday that the income tax cuts Kansas lawmakers approved earlier this year will drive growth and make Kansas more competitive with surrounding states.

Laffer told more than 200 people at a small-business forum at Johnson County Community College that there is a war among states over tax policy and that nowhere is that revolution more powerful than in Kansas. He said Kansas’ tax cuts and political shifts will produce “enormous prosperity” for the state.

“It’s not a left-wing, right-wing thing,” Laffer said. “It’s economics.”

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Wichitans will get their chance this week to weigh in on a proposal by Kansas Gas Service to raise rates for residential and small-business customers and reduce rates for bigger businesses.

Kansas Corporation Commission members will come to Wichita on Thursday to hold a public hearing on the gas company’s request for a $32.7 million overall rate increase. The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at the Wichita Central Library, 223 S. Main.

If approved, the new rates would add about $5.68 a month to the average home customer’s gas bill, according to the company. Customers will pay more in fixed monthly charges and their bills will be less dependent on how much gas they actually use.

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Add another car-registration hazard to hours-long waits in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles – the possibility of being charged more than once for the same car when you renew on the Internet.

The good news is it’s a problem you can avoid just by being patient.

Sedgwick County officials warned Tuesday that people who register online should not click the button to submit their registration more than once, no matter how long it takes to go through or how locked up the system seems to be.

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