Brief (1)
HCR 5064, as amended by the House Committee of the Whole, would, if adopted by voters at the November 7 general election, amend the Kansas Constitution to provide that the first $20,000 of appraised valuation of residential property, commercial and industrial real property, and agricultural improvements would be exempt from all property taxation beginning in tax year 2001.
Background
The first $20,000 of residential valuation is already statutorily exempt from the mandatory school district general fund property tax levy (20 mills).
Based on fiscal information provided several years ago by the Department of Revenue, the extension of the $20,000 exemption to commercial real estate and agricultural improvements would be expected to reduce local efforts for purposes of the school finance formula by about $6 million in FY 2002 and about $11 million in FY 2003.
Local property tax mill levies also would be expected to increase to the extent that the tax base would be narrowed statewide. Those increases could result in a tax shift onto other classes of property not subject to the $20,000 exemption.
The original concurrent resolution would have amended the constitution to prohibit the Legislature, absent two-thirds majority votes in both chambers, from increasing the rate of any tax imposed prior to the date of that election; from imposing any new tax after such date; and from increasing the rate of any new tax imposed after such date. The House Committee of the Whole struck those original provisions and replaced them with the $20,000 exemption provisions.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html