February 17, 2025

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Kansas Senate passes two minor property tax relief bills

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The Kansas Senate passed two bills Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2024, which, if signed into law, will provide much-needed property tax relief to Kansas residents.

Senate Bill 35, which passed 38-2, would eliminate the 1.5 mill levy for state educational and institutional buildings.

According to a release from Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, the 1.5 mill levy is the only property tax revenue source for the state government—all other property taxes are local in nature. The money for the impacted buildings would be deposited into the state general fund. 

The other bill, Senate Bill 10, would exempt snowmobiles, ATVs, off-road motorcycles, golf carts, motorized bicycles, motorized wheelchairs, certain trailers, aircraft, watercraft, and watercraft trailers from property taxes.

According to the release, county appraisers supported the bill, saying it would create efficiencies and lower costs, as often the resources required to assess these vehicles exceeded the revenue collected. School districts impacted by this exemption would automatically receive equivalent revenue from the state general fund. 

“These bills are an important step towards reducing property taxes, but more importantly, they set the stage for further property tax reform that Kansans are demanding,” Masterson said in the release. “With people being pushed out of their homes, we must address the broken appraisal system and provide Kansans with the ability to curb excessive property taxes assessed at the local level.”

Kansans want property tax valuation limits

Despite more than 60% of Kansans supporting constitutional limits on property tax valuations, Kansas Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins says the Kansas House of Representatives will not take up the amendment recently passed by the Senate tax committee.

According to State Affairs, Hawkins said late last week that even if the full Kansas Senate passes Concurrent Resolution 1603, it will not get a vote in the House.

“Hawkins (R-Wichita) said he didn’t think the House had enough support to pass the Senate Concurrent Resolution 1603, which would require a two-thirds approval,” the outlet reported. “He took a frequent stance of his: ‘We never put something up for a vote if we know it’s not going to pass.’”

There may be a lack of support among House members, but taxpayers like the idea. 

In written testimony before the Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation, Dave Trabert, CEO of the Kansas Policy Institute — which owns The Sentinel — noted that a recent public opinion poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of Kansas Policy Institute shows overwhelming support for a valuation limit, with 64% of voters in favor and only 18% opposed. Support is consistent across all geographic and ideological perspectives.

Trabert spoke in favor of the amendment — which would limit the annual valuation increase on real property and mobile homes to 3% — noting that property taxes in Kansas have increased exponentially for years. 

Trabert said that — from 1997 through 2023, the last year for which numbers are available — taxes on residential properties in Kansas have increased 342%, and overall real estate taxes are up 296%. Over the same time period inflation has increased 80%.

Additionally, Trabert said the amendment is needed because residential property owners have had an increasingly large share of the burden shifted onto them.

“In 1997, residential property paid 39% of the property tax; now it pays 55%,” Trabert said. 

Trabert noted in his written testimony that in 2022 and 2023, many counties saw double-digit valuation increases—some, like Anderson, Linn, and Wyandotte counties, more than 40% over two years.

“Most of those counties lost population over that period, but population loss is only part of the story,” Trabert wrote. “Some counties that gained population still suffered economic loss from people moving away. Johnson County, for example, had a net loss of $400 million in adjusted gross income from domestic migration, according to the IRS.”

 

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