By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Kansas lawmakers are taking a few approaches to lowering property taxes.
State Sen. Craig Bowser, a freshman Republican from Holton, says he has a few priorities this legislative session, but one stands out.
“Number one on the top of that list and the number one issue that I heard while campaigning was we’ve really got to have property tax reform here in Kansas,” Bowser tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Bowser says he hasn’t just heard the refrain from campaigning. He has heard complaints from others throughout the state since joining the legislature in January.
“I talked to a gentleman in another part of the state. His property taxes, three years in a row, they went up 15% one year, 15% the next year, and 8% the next year. So, in a three-year period, he had a 38% property tax increase in a three-year period,” according to Bowser. “That’s just unacceptable, especially if you’re an elderly citizen, an older citizen on a fixed income. That’s just not doable.”
Three main ideas have emerged in Topeka this legislative session. One would exempt personal all-terrain-vehicles, watercrafts, and personal trailers from the state personal property tax. Another would remove the one-and-a-half mill property tax used to fund college campus maintenance. A third would cap increases to the property tax rate by tying it to the rate of inflation.
Bowser says the issue goes beyond simply providing tax relief to Kansas citizens. He says the legislature must do something to stimulate the Kansas economy.
“We’ve got to make our state more competitive,” Bowser says. “Our state’s really been in sort of an economic stagnation here for decades now. I really want to take a look at how we can simplify our tax code.”
Yet, the main reason to tackle property tax relief is the importance Kansas residents place on the issue, according to Bowser.
“We heard the voters and we’re taking action to do some property tax reform here in the state.”
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