EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Caryn Tyson is considered a champion in the Kansas Senate for helping keep taxes low, and the recent proposal from Seward County was made public because Tyson helped create the Revenue Neutral Rate notices that were recently received by property owners.
Tyson chairs the Senate Tax Committee and has been pushing for a constitutional amendment to limit how much local units of government can increase the valuation of property.
Tyson attended a meeting on the constitutional amendment in Paola, and she said more than 250 people showed up.
“They were upset about their property taxes,” she said. “They had another meeting the next week, and another 100 people, different people, came to that. We have to do something quick.”
Tyson has a three-pronged approach to helping keep tax increases in check.
“Our first step was the Revenue Neutral Rate statements,” she said.
All taxing entities have to notify the public if they will be bringing in more revenue than the prior year, and those statements led to a large number of people attending the Seward County town hall meeting two weeks ago.
That was what Tyson expected would happen when property owners were able to see the proposed increases before they were passed by local units of government.
The second step was to limit valuation increases for tax purposes with a constitutional amendment.
“If your house was valued at $100,000, we have seen valuations jump to $120,000,” Tyson said. “If the amendment passed, the value might be set at $120,000, but for tax purposes it could only increase to $103,000.”
By limiting that amount of taxable value increase, Tyson said property owners could better plan for their future tax rates.
This helps alleviate the issues of trying to determine the value of a property.
“The appraisers understand it is a subjective number,” Tyson said. “You can have five different appraisers and get three to five different numbers. Until that system is more accurate, this limit would help.”
The third phase would require local units of government who wanted certain levels of increases to ask for a vote of the people.
“We would only need to do that if the locals won’t listen to the people,” she said. “We would have to put a revenue limit and have to get a vote of the people. That’s the only way to get taxation by representation.”
Advocates for economic development and population growth seek to reduce the tax burden so Kansas can remain competitive in the middle of America.
“One of the main issues we hear about is exorbitant property taxes,” Tyson said. “It taxes them out of their homes and off their properties. Something has to be done to address the situation. The first step was transparency with the revenue neutral letter. It still allows local control, but taxpayers can see the increase before it happens.”
Work has been taking place out of session to produce a bill that will get the support of both the House and Senate so property owners can avoid massive swings that lead to massive increases from one year to the next.
“We aren’t that far from the House,” Tyson said. “They passed a rolling average limit. Hopefully the Legislature in 2026 can pass a version that allows property owners to be able to predict their taxable value from year to year.”
Tyson will be visiting Liberal to share plans for property tax relief while receiving local input. The Leader & Times will host Tyson for a brown bag luncheon at noon Sept. 15 in the L&T studio at 16 S. Kansas Ave.
