A study released today by Franchise Opportunities shows that the business survival rate in Kansas is only 46.8% for businesses formed in 2019 and still operating in 2024. Out of 5,578 new ventures launched, just 2,613 remain active.
Only the District of Columbia and the states of Missouri and Washington are worse, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Employment Dynamics dataset.
Today’s release is especially timely since the Kansas Legislature is on its last day to provide property tax relief, and Kansas has the highest effective property tax rate in the nation for rural commercial businesses.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s 50-state analysis for taxes payable in 2024 shows that a rural business valued at $1 million in Iola, Kansas, pays over $45,000 in property taxes. A business in West Virginia, with the highest business survival rate, pays about $14,000. The other three states at the top of the business survival rate all have much lower property taxes than Kansas.
The Kansas Senate passed strong assessment and mill rate limits to protect businesses and homeowners, but Democrats and about half of the Republicans in the Kansas House of Representatives are digging in, wanting people to pay much higher taxes than the Senate does in order to protect local governments.
