A business forecasting and financial advice periodical compares tax rates and rules of the 50 states each year. In 2016, the magazine labeled Kansas “mixed tax friendly.” Kiplinger downgraded Kansas’s label to “not tax friendly” this year.
They note, “Taxes have been in a state of flux in Kansas for several years.” The writers say tax cuts enacted in 2012 lowered income tax rates, but lawmakers increased those rates in 2017.
Almost all of Kansas’ neighbors fare better, according to Kiplinger. The magazine labels Missouri and Oklahoma as “mixed tax friendly.” Colorado, with its 4.63 percent flat income tax rate, is labeled “tax friendly.” Coloradans pay less in property taxes; less in sales tax and less in gasoline taxes than their Kansas neighbors.
Like Kansas, Nebraska is also labeled “not tax friendly,” though state officials are working to reduce income tax rates. Nebraska property taxes are some of the highest in the nation, however.
The periodical’s brief summary of the Sunflower State’s tax picture includes a few interesting taxation nuggets:
- The state levies a 6.5 percent sales tax, and localities can add as much as 4 percent to that rate. The average sales tax rate in Kansas is 8.62 percent.
- Those who earn less than $15,000 of taxable income pay 2.9 percent in income taxes. Single filers who earn more than $30,000 in taxable income pay a 5.2 percent income tax rate. Those numbers will increase to 3.1 percent and 5.7 percent respectively in 2018.
- Kansans pay 24 cents per gallon in gasoline taxes, and the owner of the median valued home in the state — $132,000–pays property taxes of $1,849 per year.
Five (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, and Wyoming) of the top 10 tax friendliest states do not have an income tax. Three of the top 10 friendliest states–Alaska, Arizona, and Mississippi–boast some of the lowest gas taxes in the nation, while one of the top 10–Delaware–doesn’t have a state sales tax.
