Overbrook farmer Mike Fawl is an unlikely candidate to debate national tax policy with Republicans U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins and President Donald Trump or Democratic U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Fawl’s wrangling with those political heavyweights centers on wisdom of a proposal offered by congressional Republicans to sharply reduce the federal income tax on owners of businesses formed as limited liability companies, sole proprietorships and partnerships.

Trump lauded the idea of dropping the 39 percent tax on income of those business owners, declaring "jobs will start pouring in" after passage of the cut.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, climbed into Fawl’s corner to pose a simple question: "Why won’t the GOP listen to farmers like Mike from Kansas?"

Fawl, a Republican who resides in a conservative community and deeply red state, is featured in a national advertising campaign by the left-leaning organization Not One Penny, which is opposed to the GOP plan. The ad draws attention to parallels between federal tax reform offered by Republicans and pieces of the Kansas trickle-down tax experiment championed by Gov. Sam Brownback.

"The promises were that the state was going to grow, we were going to have all these new jobs and everybody would reinvest their tax cuts," said Fawl, who voted for Brownback in 2010 but not 2014. "I was say it was an abject failure."

In Kansas, Brownback and GOP allies agreed in 2012 to eliminate the state income tax on business owners and lower the state’s upper income tax bracket. The governor promised it would be a "shot of adrenaline" to Kansas’ beleaguered economy and drive private-sector job creation among 190,000 eligible businesses. Beneficiaries of the business-owner tax exemption ballooned to 390,000 by 2015, suggesting it was viewed as a tax-avoidance opportunity for lawyers, physicians and other high-earning professionals.

The state’s sluggish job growth, hemorrhaging tax base and massive budget deficits forced Brownback to raise statewide sales taxes, authorize heavy borrowing, postpone commitments to improve highway infrastructure and block investments in education and the poor.

The 2017 Legislature — over Brownback’s objections — abandoned the governor’s signature tax initiative. Lawmakers dropped the business tax exemption and raised personal income tax rates in an attempt to end years of budget woes.

Kansas Rep. Jenkins, the 2nd District’s representative in Washington, D.C., joining with the five other members of the Kansas congressional delegation to endorse the basic tax-reform blueprint put forward by their GOP colleagues.

Jenkins said frustration expressed by critics of the Brownback tax strategy in Kansas shouldn’t taint opinion about the GOP’s tax framework in Washington. She said Republicans "learned from Kansas’ missteps" and recommended a reduction to 25 percent, rather than elimination, in the federal pass-through income tax rate of 39.6 percent.

"These two reforms could not be more different," said Jenkins, who isn’t seeking re-election. "Congress will lower the rate to 25 percent — not 0 percent. Our approach will actually lessen the tax avoidance."

A conservative group, Job Creators Network, joined the public relations war to convince lawmakers to back tax cuts for business.

"Tax cuts have a long and proud history in the U.S. — leading to periods of strong economic growth and accelerated job creation," said Alfredo Ortiz, president of Job Creators Network. "We have the opportunity right now to do it again and unleash our full economic potential. Small business and middle class tax cuts are not a partisan issue."