Tax & Spending

25 months of excessive revenue continue decades of stagnation 0
- Tax & Spending
- September 1, 2022
August 2022 was the 25th month in a row that Kansas exceeded its expected tax collections. Where the government sees dollar signs in excessive revenue, Kansas families see two years of over-taxation through a pandemic and high inflation. There’s room for tax relief this upcoming year to help. Last month, the state took in $652.5
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Combating inflation at the state level 0
- Tax & Spending
- August 29, 2022
Last Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 1,000 points after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated that interest rates would remain high to fight inflation. Kansans don’t need to be told that inflation is rampant as prices this July were 8.6% higher than what they were last year. Much of the broader causes
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Is your local government increasing property taxes this month?0
- Tax & Spending
- August 22, 2022
More than 1,300 local taxing authorities ranging from fire districts and cemeteries to cities, school districts, and counties across Kansas have announced that they will not raise property taxes this year. Those proposing increases will be hosting public hearings about whether to exceed their revenue-neutral rate. According to the Truth-in-Taxation law passed in 2021, taxing
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Kansas still 19,500 jobs below pre-pandemic levels 0
- Tax & Spending
- August 19, 2022
Topeka’s NBC outlet and the Kansas City Star pointed out the inaccuracy in Governor Laura Kelly’s recent claim: “I know that during the pandemic, that every place lost jobs, but we have restored those jobs and more.” A new month of Bureau of Labor Statistics data further undermines her claim. According to July’s job numbers,
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Topeka relocation subsidy isn’t working 0
- Tax & Spending
- August 10, 2022
Shawnee County residents have paid a maximum of $900,000 since 2019 for the Choose Topeka program incentivizing 70 workers thus far to move to the area. But between 2019 and 2021, Shawnee County lost 1,182 residents through net domestic migration – that’s almost 17 times as many workers as the relocation subsidy has brought in.
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Many counties withhold information on property tax hearings 0
- Tax & Spending
- August 8, 2022
With just 12 days to go before the revenue-neutral rate property tax hearings will begin, over half of the taxing entities that have responded to KORA requests from Kansas Policy Institute are not raising property taxes this year. But as of today, 61 counties have not provided information in response to our Open Records requests
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