by State Senator Caryn Tyson | May 28, 2025

May 23, 2025

Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer and can be a busy weekend, especially with all the cemetery services, decorating graves, picnics and other events.  It is a time to remember and pray for those brave men and women who sacrificed by laying down their lives for our country.  They inspire us to live with courage and gratitude; never forgetting the sacrifice they made for our freedom.  

One Big Beautiful Bill is working its way through the U.S. legislature.  Kansans need the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, not only to keep our federal taxes lower but to also keep us from a massive state income tax increase.  Our state income taxes start with the federal adjusted gross income (AGI).  It’s not hard to see, a higher AGI means a higher baseline for state income taxes.  If this bill doesn’t become law, it will be a drastic tax increase.    

There are other items in the One Big Beautiful Bill besides tax policy, including Medicaid work requirements for able bodied individuals without children under 7.  Dr. Oz recently reported over $14 billion in Medicaid fraud.  The changes in the bill are an attempt to stop fraud and abuse.  The bill also has funding to build the wall and increase border security.  The legislation is posted at https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text/.

K-12 Funding has been a topic discussed for years.  With spending increases over the years, the money still doesn’t get to the teachers and classrooms.  From 2020 to 2024, it was reported the statewide average spending per pupil increased $3,476, from $14,848 to $18,324.  It is the largest expenditure in the state budget and increasing spending isn’t helping.  An Education Funding Task Force has been established to do a deep dive on K-12 funding.  The task force is made up of legislators and lay people.  A post-audit report completed in 2022 by a non-partisan group reported that only about 1/3 of students met state standards in three major subjects. It's also been reported that school districts have over $1 billion in cash reserves.  Hopefully, the task force will consider how the money is being spent and managed. 

Property Taxes are too high.  The valuation process is broken and subjective.  The burden to prove the valuation is not accurate is on the taxpayer.  Many say the valuation is based on fair market value.  How fair is it that you are paying a tax on unrealized gains?  You don’t pay income tax on estimated future earnings or sales tax on what you think the product will sell for, but you pay property taxes based on an estimated value.  The Senate passed a Constitutional Amendment to limit taxable valuation increases to a maximum of 3 percent each year (SCR 1603), but it stalled in the House.  This would help stop the bleed on a broken system.  It needs to pass next session so we can get it on the ballot for voters to pass it to become law. 

Have a good summer.

It is an honor and a privilege to serve as your 12th District State Senator.