State government spending in Kansas has been out of control for some time, resulting in some poor economic rankings, which will hurt Kansas in these tough economic times.
Last week the Tax Policy Blog from the Tax Foundation published a map and data comparing states on property taxes for owner-occupied homes. Kansas was #15 with its overall 1.24% tax on homes and “qualified” as one of the top 15 high-tax states. In the map below, the top 15 high-tax states are shown in blue, while the bottom 16 low-tax states are shown in yellow:
Property Taxes on Owner-Occupied Housing by State
Kansas is #15 in home tax percentage
Home tax rates are cheaper to the east, west, or south of Kansas. Only in neighboring Nebraska to the north are home tax rates higher.
While there are 3077 counties in the U.S., the Tax Foundation looked at only the 1817 counties with populations greater than 20,000 and recorded values for median home property taxes and median home values.
Data for the 27 counties from Kansas included in the study are shown in the following table:
Property Tax On Owner-Occupied Housing, by Kansas County, Ranked by Property Taxes Paid*, 2005-2007 Average
(rankings are national rankings among the 1817 counties with population of 20,000 or more)
| County | Median Home Property Taxes | Rank | Median Home Value | Tax as % of Home Value | Rank |
| Sumner |
$1,254 |
794 |
$79,400 |
1.58% |
229 |
| Labette |
$921 |
1098 |
$58,800 |
1.57% |
235 |
| Ford |
$1,257 |
789 |
$80,800 |
1.56% |
246 |
| Wyandotte |
$1,417 |
643 |
$92,500 |
1.53% |
263 |
| Barton |
$963 |
1032 |
$62,900 |
1.53% |
265 |
| Reno |
$1,281 |
771 |
$83,900 |
1.53% |
267 |
| Cowley |
$1,018 |
992 |
$70,900 |
1.44% |
325 |
| Montgomery |
$824 |
1188 |
$57,800 |
1.43% |
330 |
| Shawnee |
$1,531 |
563 |
$109,000 |
1.40% |
340 |
| Lyon |
$1,271 |
778 |
$91,200 |
1.39% |
347 |
| Butler |
$1,567 |
544 |
$112,900 |
1.39% |
350 |
| Finney |
$1,295 |
747 |
$94,100 |
1.38% |
357 |
| Harvey |
$1,283 |
768 |
$94,400 |
1.36% |
367 |
| McPherson |
$1,446 |
625 |
$110,600 |
1.31% |
400 |
| Geary |
$1,179 |
855 |
$91,300 |
1.29% |
415 |
| Seward |
$960 |
1038 |
$76,100 |
1.26% |
438 |
| Saline |
$1,289 |
756 |
$103,000 |
1.25% |
447 |
| Ellis |
$1,399 |
665 |
$113,000 |
1.24% |
452 |
| Sedgwick |
$1,342 |
707 |
$109,500 |
1.23% |
462 |
| Johnson |
$2,481 |
224 |
$203,000 |
1.22% |
465 |
| Miami |
$2,044 |
321 |
$170,500 |
1.20% |
485 |
| Franklin |
$1,352 |
694 |
$113,300 |
1.19% |
490 |
| Leavenworth |
$1,887 |
387 |
$161,300 |
1.17% |
510 |
| Riley |
$1,624 |
518 |
$141,200 |
1.15% |
526 |
| Douglas |
$1,910 |
378 |
$168,300 |
1.13% |
536 |
| Crawford |
$791 |
1213 |
$79,200 |
1.00% |
666 |
| Cherokee |
$611 |
1392 |
$62,400 |
0.98% |
690 |
While the median home value in Johnson County was the highest for Kansas at $203,000, median property taxes in Johnson County at 1.22% were near the state average of 1.24%.
Of the 27 larger counties, the top five counties for home tax rates in Kansas are: Sumner (1.58%), Labette (1.57%), Ford (1.56%), Wyandotte (1.53%), and Barton (1.53%). The lowest home tax rates were found in Leavenworth (1.17%), Riley (1.15%), Douglas (1.13%), Crawford (1.00%), and Cherokee (0.98%).
Adding to this bad high-tax news for Kansas was bad news about the budget deficit. On Saturday, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported, “Budget woes: Big spenders.” The story indicated states other than California, like Kansas, will be having double-digit percentage gaps in their 2010 budgets:
The Associated Press reported that those free-spending, big-government Californians weren’t the only people facing double-digit percentage gaps in their 2010 budgets.
Fourteen states are in that same boat, in fact, and the top six in terms of the percentage size of their deficits are as follows: Arizona, New York, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota and, ugh, Kansas.
Our pioneer ancestors must be spinning in their graves.
They would no doubt be horrified to see that the state they built through their thriftiness, perseverance and rugged self-sufficiency has been steered into such a budget mess that it is being mentioned in the same breath as liberal California among states in the greatest financial peril.
When will our state legislators and governor show more fiscal responsibility and accountability?
Sadly, while California has a huge budget deficit, they have lower property tax rates than Kansas.
Related:
- Kansas ranks 31st in business-friendliness, Kansas Liberty, Dec 15, 2008.
