Lawmakers in the Kansas House and Senate work just a few hundred feet away from each other in the Statehouse. But they’re far apart from one another on the best way to address rising property taxes.
They have failed so far this year to bridge that gap — despite lawmakers of both political parties saying property tax relief was their top priority this spring.
“It's extremely disappointing because this was issue number one, two and three that I heard from voters at the doors when I was campaigning last year,” said Democratic Senator Ethan Corson.
The Legislature has passed a modest reduction in the portion of property taxes that go to the state — which itself collects far less than local governments do. That will save the owner of a $150,000 home about $25 per year according to Corson’s back-of-the-envelope math.
While some celebrate that change as broad-based relief, many say it’s a far cry from the progress lawmakers from both parties promised on the campaign trail.
“If you’re wondering this year why we didn’t do anything meaningful on property tax, the reason is, as always, the Kansas Senate,” Democratic Representative Rui Xu said on X.
Lawmakers return to Topeka next week for a short veto session. They could continue to work on legislation focused on reducing property taxes, but they are quickly running out of time before they finish work for the rest of the year.
'We just need to work together'
Xu and other lawmakers said the Senate has mostly focused on a proposed amendment to address rising property valuations, which is one reason property taxes have ballooned over the years.
Under the current setup, a county appraiser calculates how much a property is worth based on changes in the housing market, improvements to the property and other factors. That appraisal affects how much the owner pays in taxes — and often causes sticker shock for homeowners who see their bills ratcheting up year after year.
Republican Sen. Caryn Tyson and some colleagues championed a hard limit of 3% per year on those valuation increases. Supporters said that would prevent homeowners, especially seniors and others living on fixed incomes, from getting priced out of homes they may have paid off decades ago.
But skeptics in both chambers said that policy wouldn’t provide meaningful relief. Rep. Adam Smith, a Republican who chairs the House Taxation Committee, said local governments would just raise their property tax rates, or mill levies, to compensate for a valuation cap.
“It's kind of an artificial way to not really accomplish a whole lot in my opinion,” he said.
In response to the Senate’s proposed hard limit on valuation increases, the House offered a softer alternative based in part on a rolling average.
But the Senate gutted that proposal and sent the House a version identical to the original proposed amendment.
“I think it was a little bit of the Senate trying to almost bully the House by saying, ‘No, we're going to ram this down your throat,’” Corson said.
Tyson offered a different explanation.
“We chose to put our language in it because we thought that the House version was clunky, complicated, and you would still see double digit valuation increases,” she said.
Tyson said a uniform valuation cap would also send a clearer signal to voters that lawmakers had taken action on property taxes.
“We've got friends in the House,” she said. “We just need to work together to get the best policy for Kansans.”
A month and a half after the Senate initially passed a hard valuation cap, the House took it up for a vote on the second-to-last day of the regular session. They rejected it 37-88.
Other options?
Tyson said the valuation cap is just one piece of a multifaceted approach she supports, which would also include limits on local property tax collections.
Local governments levy the majority of property taxes that homeowners pay. Those revenues fund local services like law enforcement and road maintenance. Tyson said she supports certain measures to influence how much counties and municipalities can raise taxes on property owners.
For example, lawmakers entertained the idea of setting aside a dedicated pool of money to reward local taxing entities who keep their collections below a certain threshold.
They have also toyed with different ways to allow input from voters any time local authorities try to raise their budgets past a certain point.
But with the sun setting on the 2025 session, some lawmakers feel it’s too late to take on such complicated policy ideas with the thoroughness they require.
“We had the whole session to work on something like that,” Corson said. “We should have spent the legislative session talking with local governments and municipalities about how we could do this in a way that would be workable.”
Corson said he would have liked to see an increase in the personal exemption, so that the first $150,000 of a home’s value could be shielded from state tax liability. But he doesn’t expect anything that consequential to happen this year.
What now?
Lawmakers will reconvene on April 10th for a brief veto session. Republicans are expected to focus on wrangling the two-thirds majorities needed to override bills that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed. She opposed one bill that blocks federal funds from supporting election administration unless the state approves it.
With limited time and other priorities, Smith said major changes on property taxes will have to wait until the state has a clearer picture of next year’s budget — information they won’t be able to act on until they reconvene in 2026. Lawmakers recently approved a budget that included a $461 million shortfall in three years.
“We are spending more than we're taking in, so we have to be cautious when it comes to tax cuts,” he said.
Tyson said she hopes her colleagues in the House come around to valuation caps and other proposals she’s supported for years. But she knows it could be an ongoing battle.
“This stuff doesn’t happen overnight,” she said.
Zane Irwin reports on politics, campaigns and elections for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at zaneirwin@kcur.org.
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