Legislature to Kansans: Pay property taxes so Genesis Health Clubs doesn’t have to | Opinion

Hi Wichita. Feel like paying property taxes so Wichita’s millionaire Steven brothers don’t have to?

If you’re like me, that’s probably a hard no.

But it’s what the Kansas House of Representatives passed in the dead of night last week before going on spring break. And our state senators are more than likely to pass it and send it to the governor as soon as they get back.

Here’s the back story:

Genesis Health Clubs, owned by Rodney and Brandon Steven, has been pushing for years to get its vast empire of for-profit fitness clubs exempted from property taxes, carping about having to compete with YMCAs.

The Legislature has rejected that in the past, but it’s back in a new form this year in Senate Bill 8.

SB 8 is basically a grab-bag of giveaways to various special interests, which also includes the ill-conceived idea of giving tax credits to anti-abortion folks who fund anti-abortion organizations.

While that would seemingly be the worst idea you could include in any bill, it’s absolutely eclipsed by the outrageous arrogance in the part of the bill that would provide the Stevens the tax exemption they have sought for so long.

The Stevens lost in the past because they picked the wrong fight. YMCAs are popular, they take everybody as members regardless of ability to pay, and they do society-improving works far beyond providing weight rooms and exercise bikes.

So this year, the concept is back and the new line of attack is supposed competition from local government.

And to expand the base of potential support, this year’s bill also includes property tax exemption for restaurants and child-care centers that supposedly have to “compete” with government-owned or -operated facilities.

Here’s just a small example to chew on: The city of Wichita built a big parking garage in Old Town to facilitate the development of the Warren Theatre and cinema plaza. As part of paying for the garage, the city built some retail space into it, which it continues to own and rents to businesses, five of which are restaurants.

SB 8 would exempt from property taxes all restaurants within a five-mile radius of government-owned restaurants. Five miles includes the entire central city. It’s roughly the area from the 135-235 freeway interchanges in north and south Wichita, from the Towne East to Towne West malls.

The Stevens have stayed out of the fray this time around. They didn’t have to get involved because Sen. J.R. Claeys of Salina and Senate President Ty Masterson of Andover have been willing to shill for them at the Capitol.

Witness this exchange between Claeys and Masterson during the Senate hearing:

Claeys: Isn’t this happening right now in Prairie Village? Isn’t right now a big box store that was going to be converted into a health and fitness center being put on hold, because the city of Prairie Village is about to create, using that taxpayer’s tax dollars, a identical seemingly, fitness center for the city of Prairie Village using tax dollars? Isn’t that exactly what this bill is hoping to prevent and exactly what’s happening right now in Kansas?

Masterson: I will tell you . . . that is my understanding.

That hearing was on Feb. 21. The big box store referenced is a former Prairie Village Macy’s that Genesis has considered moving into. The Prairie Village Post reported that two weeks before the hearing, a health club association that’s basically controlled by the Stevens launched a text-message campaign to try to scuttle the city’s community center.

The entire concept of this is flawed.

The purpose of property taxes is to pay for property-related services, which businesses like the Stevens’ rely on to a far greater degree than the average citizen does.

If they succeed in evading their taxes, then cities should charge them full price for every police and fire response they have to make to their businesses.

Fortunately, Gov. Laura Kelly sees through this, so a veto is likely.

I asked her about it at an event this week, and here’s what she said: “I might have addressed it when I was in the Senate, because we’ve been dealing with that issue for a very, very long time. I didn’t support it then, and I don’t support it now.

“Every time we set up a snack bar in a state office building, is that competing with the convenience store down the road? Where do you stop? There is no place. We’re not setting up businesses to compete with the private sector, but we do have entities that provide services for state employees and others, and I will continue to support them.”

No actual businesses testified at the legislative hearing, but the influential Kansas Chamber of Commerce did, through lobbyist Eric Stafford.

“We just believe that it is blatantly un-American for government entities to put private businesses that have tax liabilities and tax burdens in a position that they can’t compete with entities that don’t have the same fiscal constraints,” he testified.

I’d suggest that if Mr. Stafford wants to see un-American, he should go look in the nearest mirror.

It’s un-American to throw your weight around in the state Legislature trying to get special favors for special people.

It’s un-American to expect the general public to pick up the tab for wealthy businesses’ owners who want to get richer by freeloading on the tax rolls.

It is the right of citizens of every town and county in Kansas to come together through their local government to meet residents’ physical-fitness and recreational needs — without having to pay membership dues to a private club.

That is not un-American in any way. It is, in fact, quintessentially American.