Kansas tax collections often are compared to a three-legged stool, in that revenue comes to the state from income, property and sales taxes.
The same may be said of how property tax revenue, the primary source for local governing bodies, comes about.
Those who decide tax collections take into consideration property valuation, and then apply a tax levy, to raise what is needed in tax revenue.
A levy of 1 mill raises $1 for each $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The formula is simple enough, but it can be confusing to folks who seldom deal with budgets, tax levies and valuations — the biggest share of us.
In most cases, taxpayers look only at the bottom line — their tax bills — and rightly so because that’s what we’re required to pay to support a multitude of services provided by cities, counties and schools.
The misstep sometimes made is when someone with a cause to promote uses one or another of the taxing components to make their case, without being forthcoming about other factors involved.
What has occurred of late in Neosho County is tutorial, because of significant increases in valuation for Ash Grove Cement Co. In 2011, certain manufacturing equipment was appraised as real property — that’s the term used for buildings and grounds — instead of personal property, which has some exemptions from property taxes.
Consequently, Ash Grove’s valuation soared, and led to property tax windfalls for local governing bodies. Ash Grove appealed its valuation to the Board of Tax Appeals. The Legislature also has entered the fray, with bills floating in each house. No changes have occurred, as yet.
It’s easy to say — though a case of hyperbole — that taxes for Neosho County residents increased significantly the past few years. In fact additional revenue mainly came from Ash Grove and not the average person.
It is true that revenue generated for the Southwind Extension District, of which Allen, Bourbon and Neosho counties are members, did increase from $78,000 in 2010 to $203,000 in 2013 in Neosho County, and each year in between. However, the mill levy, which affects the little old lady on a fixed income the same as it does Ash Grove, doesn’t reflect such wholesale increases.
In 2010 the levy was 1.395 mills, dropped the next two years, and then increased only a smidgen, to 1.42 mills in 2013.
What that means is John Doe’s tax bill, unless he made major improvements to his home, increased hardly at all because of tax money directed to the Extension district. That’s even more to the point in Allen and Bourbon counties.
— Bob Johnson
Tax comparisons can be deceiving
