State Representative T.J. Berry (R-Clay County) knows a good economic tool when he sees one.
The key sponsor of House Bill 253 this week told participants in AIM’s monthly Manufacturers and Mining Committee webinar that his legislation doesn’t pick winners and losers.
“This isn’t a tax credit economic development plan,” said Berry. “This is a broad-based cut where every business, from the largest to the smallest, will participate. And I find that to be very important.”
Berry, a business owner from suburban Kansas City, said the tax cut will allow business owners like him to invest more of his business’s profits back into his company which will lead to increased growth in productivity and jobs.
“And this can happen in every city across the state,” said Berry.
As the vote to override the governor’s veto of House Bill 253 draws closer by the day, Berry told representatives of some of the state’s largest businesses to contact their legislative representatives and have a one-on-one conversation about how the broad-based tax cuts in House Bill 253 will positively affect their bottom line.
“The school superintendents (who don’t support the tax reduction) are doing it,” said Berry. “I think a one-on-one conversation with a state legislator is the most important thing you can do right now.”
Berry said he will continue to campaign to shore up support of the veto override right up until a vote is taken on the House floor on September 11. Berry said the figures the opposition is using are not true, and Berry is trying to get the real information in front of as many people as possible.
“Since the veto, I have been working on this thing a major percentage of my day, every single day, trying to make sure the arguments I make are based on fact and not on supposition,” said Berry.
Berry’s efforts have already pushed the tax cut proposal farther along than ever before, according to AIM president Ray McCarty. This is the first year the legislation has passed both houses of the legislature.
“Rep. Berry is working tirelessly on this effort, and we thank him for it,” said McCarty. “Getting some kind of tax relief that is broad-based and applies to every single business is a big victory for us and for every business in the state.”
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