Two area state legislators participated in a recent Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce forum where they touched on different issues and topics.

State Representative Dave Baker, a former grocery store owner, referred to a possible one percent decrease in the sales tax on food. “I think that’s a great idea. Coming out of that business I will tell you one percent really won’t move the needle very much because we’ve moved that sales tax number, by the time we put city and sales taxes on there pretty close to nine percent in most town, ten percent in some, it’s way up there. One percent really….nice token but one percent really isn’t going to fix it.”

On the high cost of health insurance Baker noted it’s restricting entrepreneurship. “We are spending $5 per hour for a 40-hour week on health insurance, one thousand dollars a month per person.” Baker added that’s a lot of money and not sustainable.

State Senator Jeff Longbine addressed out migration of Kansas residents to other states. On the basic things needed by people he said they “need an opportunity to provide an income for their family. They need a good education system, they need a good transportation and they need a quality of life. When you start looking at the state of Kansas there are some things that really, really scare me.” Longbine referred to some earlier numbers which showed 27 counties in the state where the average age is 65 or more and that number is projected to grow to more than 50 counties in the next 20 years.

The Chamber hosted the forum at the 12th Street Community Center last weekend.