Property tax relief legislation is left in the lurch while the House and Senate iron out a viable path forward

TOPEKA — The Kansas House and Senate went tit-for-tat last week, rebuffing each other’s property tax relief proposals, which have been billed this legislative session as making good on old promises to alleviate Kansans’ residential property tax burdens.

When the House voted down a Senate resolution that would have allowed voters to decide on an annual cap on assessed value increases for commercial and residential property, the Senate skipped over scheduled discussion on a House bill seeking to create funding limits for local taxing entities.

The two proposals have been in the works for months, if not years, and they were comprehensive enough to promise property tax relief for a wide swath of Kansans.

Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican who is running this year for the GOP nomination for governor, urged the House to “put taxpayers first.”

“I’m extremely disappointed the House blocked the people’s ability to vote on real property tax relief after it passed the Senate. Property taxes are squeezing Kansas families, seniors on fixed incomes, and farmers,” he said Thursday in a statement from his campaign.

By Friday, the House’s funding limit bill that was previously scheduled to appear on the Senate floor was scratched from the calendar.

“Kansans expect action, not excuses,” Masterson said.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins said Monday in a statement property taxes are one of the most prevalent concerns legislators hear from Kansans. 

“Session is not over,” he said, “and discussions on property tax relief are ongoing. Members of both the House and Senate continue to work through multiple options to find a path forward that can pass both chambers.”

Hawkins, a Wichita Republican running for state insurance commissioner, said House Republicans are dedicated to solutions that target the root causes of rising property taxes and offer real relief to homeowners.

“As conversations continue between the two chambers, our focus remains on advancing a proposal that delivers real results for the people of Kansas,” he said.

Senate Substitute for House Bill 2745 initially received bipartisan support in the House with a preliminary 87-22 vote in favor, and a subsequent vote of 76-45, passing it on to the Senate. While supporters praised the bill for offering broad tax relief by ensuring revenue neutrality and constraining taxing entities’ ability to raise mill levies, opponents expressed concern that it could destabilize municipal governments and ignore the root of rising property taxes.

After the Senate declined Thursday to take up the bill, which would establish a process for taxpayers to object when local taxing entities’ budgets exceed the previous year’s, it was referred to the Senate tax committee. The committee did not have any public plans for the bill as of Monday.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 1616 sought to amend the state constitution, if a two-thirds majority of both chambers and a majority of voters approve, to limit the annual increases in taxable assessed value for residential and commercial properties to 3% or less, with some exceptions.

Rep. Ken Corbet, a Topeka Republican, supported the resolution on the House floor, arguing it was crucial to deliver this particular piece of legislation to help business owners.

“If you want to keep businesses in this state, you better give them a reason, because we’re losing them pretty fast,” he said.

Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton, an Overland Park Democrat, said a discussion about residential property tax burdens was an important one.

“I, myself a single parent who’s paying all this out of my own hard work, have had my valuations jump repeatedly,” she said. “They went up $42,800 this past year, and if I am dealing with that, I know that my constituents are also dealing with a lot of similar jumps.”

She said the Legislature has in years past carved out commercial property tax exemptions, leaving residential property owners accounting for 57% of all property taxes paid in 2024.

Sawyer Clayton attempted to gut the resolution with an amendment and proposed, in place of the assessed value cap, a drop in the property tax valuation rate from 11.5% to 9%. Voters approved in 1990 an 11.5% residential property valuation rate.

Sawyer Clayton’s proposal would lower the taxable value of all residential homes. The initial resolution capping annual assessed value increases, by contrast, does not guarantee lower property taxes or imminently lower taxable values.

The House rejected Sawyer Clayton’s proposal, which she said was an opportunity to put forth a “real, genuine vote to the people on property tax relief.”

“This underlying bill,” she said, “it ain’t it.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

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