Kansas lawmakers had big ideas for property tax cuts. Here's what they've done so far.

As county appraisers send out valuation notices, Kansas lawmakers have taken little action on cutting property taxes this year.

Appraisers must mail valuation notices no later than Friday to owners of real property. Rising valuations result in higher property taxes if mill levies are left unchanged and can result in higher taxes even when mill levies are reduced. Local governments don't set mill levies until later in the year.

In recent years, legislators have heard complaints from constituents about appraisals and property taxes after they received their notices.

Kansas legislators went into the 2024 legislative session with several ideas for ways to cut property taxes. So far, none of them have come to fruition, and some of them have seen zero debate.

Constitutional amendment would limit valuation growth

One proposal is to amend the Kansas Constitution in order to limit the growth in property valuation. Over time, that could result in lower taxes for homeowners who stay in the same house.

Such a cap was passed by the Senate in SCR 1611 relatively late in the 2023 session. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, later promised, "I will bring that to the floor immediately at the start of next session."

That didn't happen. It remains in the House tax committee, where it has sat since April 2023, and no hearing has been scheduled on it.

The idea has generally been backed by Republicans, who say it would help seniors on fixed incomes to not be taxed out of their homes as they age. Democrats have generally opposed it.

Economists have said local governments would likely raise the mill levy to compensate for the valuation growth cap, resulting in a tax increase on people who purchased a home more recently, such as younger first-time homeowners.

More: As property values and taxes rise, is a Kansas constitutional amendment the solution?

Constitutional amendment would decrease assessment rate

Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Vic Miller, D-Topeka, have preferred a different constitutional amendment proposal that Republicans have shown little interest in.

Property taxes are determined by taking the appraised value, multiplying it by the assessment rate, then factoring in the mill levy. The Democrat proposal would reduce the assessment rate for residential property from 11.5% to 9%.

A lower assessment rate on residential property would mean lower taxes for homeowners. But it would likely result in some of the tax burden shifting onto other classes of property, such as commercial.

In the House, there is HCR 5021. In the Senate, there is SCR 1613. Neither chamber's tax committee has scheduled a hearing on either resolution.

More: Want property tax cuts? Here's a comparison of plans from Kansas Republicans and Democrats

Will the state provide money to locals to cut property taxes?

Kansas has a local ad valorem tax reduction fund designed to send state money to local governments to be used to reduce local property taxes. But the Legislature hasn't funded it for two decades.

Hawkins, who is a critic of the fund, said in the fall, "This next year, you can bank on LAVTR will be repealed." So far, that has not happened.

Other politicians, particularly Democratic lawmakers, a handful of Republicans and Gov. Laura Kelly, have supported funding the LAVTRF.

The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee had a hearing in January on Senate Bill 196 and another on Senate Bill 332 in February, but has taken no further action on either bill. The topic has also been discussed in the Senate Local Government Committee.

The House Taxation Committee has House Bill 2366 and House Bill 2508, but neither has had a hearing.

The two budget committees, House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means, have the governor's budget proposal that includes restoring LAVTRF funding. The bills are House Bill 2802 and Senate Bill 514.

Legislators do not typically pass a budget until early April, then follow up later that month or in early May with an omnibus budget.

More: Will Kansas help fund local property tax cuts? Shawnee County and state leaders butt heads

Cutting the state mill levy, or increasing the exemption

While property taxes are mostly used to fund local governments, the state does impose a 20 mill levy to help fund local schools and a 1.5 mill levy for state building maintenance.

At the start of the session, there were two main ideas for how to cut the state property tax.

One was to reduce the school mill levy, an idea proposed by Hawkins last fall. It does not appear there is a bill to do so.

There is, however, a similar proposal to eliminate the 1.5 mills for building maintenance and fill the hole with other tax revenue. That idea is in Senate Bill 94 from Sen. Virgil Peck, R-Havana, which passed out of committee last session. It was referred back to committee this session and has not seen any action since.

The other idea, which had garnered bipartisan support in the past and again this year, was to increase the exemption on the state's 20 mill levy. Such an exemption increase appeared in both the Republican tax cut plan and the governor's tax cut plan.

The Republican tax cut plan died when Kelly vetoed it and the House failed to override the veto. The governor's tax cut plan is effectively dead, as Senate Republicans gutted the bill and House Republicans redirected it to a committee that never meets.

The idea isn't dead. Variations of it remain alive in House Bill 2364, House Bill 2457, House Bill 2520, Senate Bill 97, Senate Bill 138 and Senate Bill 377.

More: Did your home value rise? Support for property tax cuts heats up in Kansas Legislature.

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Will Kansas lawmakers cut property tax after appraisers mail notices?