by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
June 18, 2024
TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate deflected a bipartisan effort to amend Tuesday a substantial property and income tax reduction bill negotiated by Gov. Laura Kelly and top Republican leaders in the Legislature.
In opening hours of a special session, the Senate voted 34-4 to forward the deal to the Kansas House. The second chamber could take action on the bill before diving into legislation that would shape economic development incentives crafted to draw the Kansas City Chiefs or Kansas City Royals to new stadiums in Kansas.
A majority in the Senate voted to cut off debate on the tax bill and avoid consideration of amendments Republican and Democratic senators were preparing to offer. Focus of dissent in terms of the bill negotiated by Senate President Ty Masterson, House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Kelly centered on scaling back reductions to property taxes, deletion of a provision repealing the state’s 2% sales tax on groceries on July 1 and the inclusion of a provision expanding a childcare tax credit.
“I’m champing on the bit. I’m ready to vote for this thing,” said Sen. Jeff Pittman, D-Leavenworth. “Coming to this point, we’re all a little frustrated. We didn’t all get exactly what we wanted. We are delivering tax cuts to all Kansans.”
Sen. Rob Olson, an Olathe Republican not seeking reelection in 2024, made the motion to halt the Senate debate and call a vote on the bill. Olson, who endorsed a Kelly tax plan early in the session and voted for the compromise tax bill, said the negotiated package wasn’t ideal, but work of a Legislature often required some form of compromise.
“We can sit here and pick it apart,” he said. “I think we’re going in the right direction.”
While a handful of senators voted against undermining debate on the tax proposal and then voted for passage of the bill, outgoing Sen. Alicia Straub left no doubt she was disturbed by behind-the-scenes wrangling between GOP legislative leadership and the governor ahead of the special session. She appeared frustrated by explosion of interest in trying to convince owners of the Chiefs or Royals to relocate those professional teams to Kansas.
“This special session and tax bill may go down in history as the debategate of special sessions,” the Ellinwood Republican said. “I refuse to play ball with billionaire globalists, cheaters, liars and thieves. Kansas deserves better.”
Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, inquired as to why repeal of the state food sales tax law was taken off the table. And, outgoing Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, expressed dismay the negotiators stripped from the deal much of the residential property tax reductions contained in previous legislation.
The tax legislation was presented Monday to a joint session of the House and Senate tax committees. The regular process of assigning a bill to those committees for hearings, debate and amendment was bypassed. Senate leadership decided the bill would be brought directly to the floor for consideration. After a handful of speeches outlining objections to the bill, and before any amendment could be offered, a motion was approved to proceed to final action.
Another senator who chose not to seek reelection, Hutchinson Republican Mark Steffen, said he was astounded negotiations led to a doubling of the state tax break on childcare expenditures. He said the tax policy incentivized parents to enter the workforce, place children in daycare and weaken “traditional” family structures in Kansas.
Masterson pushed back against Steffen’s assertion bolstering a childcare tax provision in state law could undermine the nuclear family.
“That is so over the top. I find it incredibly offensive,” the Senate president said. “That’s akin to saying Trump somehow is going to destroy democracy.
Sen. Pat Pettey, D-Kansas City, said it was bizarre of Steffen to assert that parents who made use of childcare services were “bad parents.” She said that common practice meant economic circumstances required parents to work on behalf of their families and ridiculed the senator’s attempt to demonize certain parents.
Meanwhile, Steffen took Republican colleagues in the Legislature to the woodshed while accusing them of raising by 20% state government spending during his four-year term in the Legislature.
“Think of that,” he said. “We’ve got problems with wokeism, with big business trying to control our government.”
The bill moving to the House would create a two-rate state income tax structure with the upper rate at 5.58% and the lower rate at 5.2%. Under existing law, the three-rate approach taxed Kansans at rates of 3.1%, 5.25% and 5.7% based on income.
The bill also would raise the personal income tax exemption, raise the standard deduction by 3% and eliminate the state’s income tax on Social Security benefits.
The residential property tax exemption related to funding of Kansas public schools would be nearly doubled to $75,000. The child care tax credit would be doubled to 50% of the comparable federal tax break. Negotiations led to removal of broad property tax cuts and repeal of the state’s sales tax on food, which is scheduled to expire Jan. 1.
Overall, the bill moving through the Legislature would reduce state revenue by $380 million to $471 million annually during the next five fiscal years. The high end would occur the first year of implementation because some provisions of tax reform would be retroactive.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network 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 X.
