TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Home and apartment-building owners will get a small break in the property taxes they’ll owe this year and are likely to see small decreases in future years under a measure Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law Thursday.
The legislation includes a grab-bag of changes expected to cut taxes by $310 million over the next three years. The biggest piece of the savings, about $134 million over three years, goes to owners of residential property.
To help fund public schools, the state imposes a tax of $2.30 for every $1,000 of a residential property’s value as determined by the county appraiser, but it exempts the first $20,000 from the levy. The measure Kelly signed increases the exemption to $40,000 for this year, saving the owners of any residential property worth that much or more $46 a year.
The state will be required to adjust the exemption annually based on the 10-year average percentage for how much the value of all the state’s residential property increases. The exemption is likely to inch up steadily.
The Republican-controlled Legislature is considering other tax cuts worth roughly $1.2 billion over three years. Kelly is pushing for elimination this year of the state’s 6.5% sales tax on groceries, while GOP lawmakers have proposed phasing it out over three years.
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