Kansas tax relief bill took compromise and a bit of give and take

The Kansas Legislature passed a tax relief bill in a one-day special session.

Legislators worked quickly to pass the bill and begin debate on a STAR Bonds proposal designed to get the Kansas City Chiefs or Royals to build a new stadium in Kansas. Last week we advocated for lawmakers to consider this proposal during the special session but to consider it carefully. They’ll get one shot at this. We hope they make a play tempting enough for Coach Reid and company to set up a gridiron here in Kansas.

This tax bill took compromise and a bit of give and take.

We're glad lawmakers and Gov. Laura Kelly came to an agreement on a package of tax cuts that will hopefully benefit working Kansans. Thank you for putting the needs of Kansans forward and designing a strategy that accomplishes that. Nevertheless we can't help but think this could have happened much sooner.

“I appreciate the Legislature's quick work today to pass this tax relief package," Kelly said in a statement. "Although this package is not perfect and emphasizes income tax reductions instead of property tax relief, it does provide significant relief while preserving our ability to continue fully funding our public schools, roads and bridges, and State Water Plan. I will sign this bill upon receiving it."

The Topeka Capital-Journal’s team reports the compromise plan passed 34-4 in the Senate and 121-2 in the House. Over five years, the compromise plan costs a total of nearly $2 billion.

Compared to previous proposals, this plan lowers the amount of exempted property taxes from $100,000 to $75,000, does away with an expedited end to sales taxes on groceries — which is already scheduled to be fully eliminated in January — and includes a child tax care credit.

The bill is by no means perfect. Lawmakers couldn’t agree to more property tax relief. We hope they’ll try again during next year’s session. However, it does increase the child and dependent care income tax credit to 50%, up from the current 25%.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that lawmakers like the plan enough to pass it, and Gov. Kelly has indicated she will sign it. So the Legislature has kept their promise to provide some tax breaks to Kansas. It’s also worth noting both chambers have vowed to continue their work to provide more relief.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas tax relief bill took compromise and a bit of give and take