Dave Rau told lawmakers he moved out of his home in Garden Plain, Kansas, because he couldn’t afford the property tax bill.
“We were able to take advantage of homestead tax relief for some of our taxes, but now, we don’t qualify for it. Please help!” Rau wrote to lawmakers. “I am 100% disabled (veteran) and unfortunately not employable.”
Debbie Detmer, a Johnson County homeowner, said that she is choosing between property tax payments and other essentials.
“You keep turning the heat down. You keep (it) hotter in the summer,” she said. “You just got to cut back.”
Both Rau and Detmer spoke to lawmakers or The Beacon last year when legislators were debating property tax relief.
The 2025 session ended with no substantial reform, and lawmakers promised to tackle the issue again in 2026 — echoing promises from 2024. The leading proposals this year are similar to the bills and resolutions that failed just a year ago.
But lawmakers are more optimistic that relief will come this time around.
“You don’t have to do something completely opposite to make it look like you’re making a change,” said Rep. Adam Smith, a Republican who represents six counties in northwest Kansas.
Here are the two leading proposals that have gotten initial approval from state lawmakers.
Constitutional amendment to cap valuation increases
One proposal is a constitutional amendment that would cap property tax valuation changes at 3% for most properties. Property tax values would be reset to the 2022 level. Home values could still rise more than 3% if there were major renovations, for example. Property taxes could also still rise more than 3% in one year if mill levies change.
Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Republican who represents eight counties in eastern Kansas, has championed that constitutional amendment.
She said she constantly hears from homeowners whose valuations jumped by double digits. Those homeowners are told their tax rates didn’t increase, which is true, but homeowners are still paying more and more for the same house.
Tyson’s amendment would address that.
Sen. Jeff Klemp, a Republican representing Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties, said he supports the proposal because of couples being taxed out of their homes. He noted a couple in Leavenworth who can’t afford a 1,400-square-foot house.
“In Leavenworth, that is where the property tax continues to go up at a rate of 14% a year,” he said during the floor debate last Wednesday. “I get concerned about that. We owe it to the folks to give them some relief, some predictability and some stability.”
The resolution passed the Senate 30-10. Constitutional amendments need a two-thirds majority to pass one chamber, and this succeeded with three votes to spare. If approved by a veto-proof majority in the House, it would then be on the Aug. 4 ballot for Kansas voters to approve with a simple majority.
Three Republicans and seven Democrats in the Senate voted against the idea. They argued it doesn’t actually cut taxes.
A similar proposal failed last year. It barely passed the Senate and was dozens of votes shy in the House, getting bipartisan pushback. Tyson said she has worked with House leadership and made tweaks to the proposal so it’s more likely to pass.
Concerns remain. One worry is that it would discourage new home construction as people decide to stay in their current homes. Existing homes would have years of limited appraisal increases while a new house would be valued much higher to start.
Sen. Marci Francisco, a Douglas County Democrat, imagines a family trying to downsize. They could have lived in the home for decades, the kids have moved out and the parents want to buy something smaller. But some properties would have had capped values for longer while others would be much higher. That really limits their options, Francisco said.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Johnson County Democrat, said taxes are like a balloon. If you squeeze one side, the other side will bulge up. In this case, property tax caps would mean higher taxes for car owners, for example, which is a far higher number of people in Kansas than homeowners.
“We are selling Kansans a false narrative that their taxes are going to go down, and while it might on their property tax, we know that this is squeezing that balloon,” she said.
Spending caps on local governments
Another bill would cap increases in property tax spending at 3% annually.
Property tax spending could increase more than 3%, but citizens could circulate a petition to block the increase. That petition would need the same number of signatures as 5% of the vote total from the most recent secretary of state’s election.
Opponents of this bill worry a small number of people could stop municipalities from investing in what a vast majority of residents want. It may also handcuff local governments, opponents say. But supporters of the bill say local governments need to cut back and that property taxes are out of control.
The bill originally rewarded municipalities that keep spending low. The state would have created a $60 million pool of money to give to counties who keep spending low. But that money was removed from the bill over cost concerns and the expectation of tight budgets in the future.
The bill passed the House 76-45.
Kansas has passed spending caps aimed at local governments before. But previous laws had exemptions for police department budgets, for example. Some say that made it easier for local governments to continue spending without limits because exemptions created loopholes. Others say those exemptions are necessary so important government services continue to function.
“Trying to get the property tax relief is not an easy thing to do,” said Rep. Tom Sawyer, a Sedgwick County Democrat. “There’s no magic bullet.”
Kansas could cut property taxes even more, but doing so would hurt schools and other services specifically funded by that revenue. The state has cut all it can without harming key services, lawmakers say.
“Trying to find that magic to try to provide property tax relief, yet give locals that flexibility, is a very, very tough thing to do,” Sawyer said.
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
