Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday called for no new tax cuts in 2025, setting the Democrat on a collision path with Republicans who have vowed to take action on property taxes after voters bolstered the party’s supermajority in the Legislature.

The conflict’s outcome will influence how much Kansas homeowners pay in future property taxes, one of the most hated forms of taxation that helps pay for city and county government and public education.

Some Republican lawmakers want to cut the statewide mill levy, which helps fund schools, while others favor a constitutional amendment that would limit annual property valuation increases. Whatever the specific proposal, GOP lawmakers say they must deliver homeowners some form of property tax relief.

The Democratic governor wants them to hit pause.

“I’ve been pretty consistent on saying we need to just take a breath and wait,” Kelly told reporters at Cedar Crest, the governor’s residence in Topeka, on Monday.

The Legislature passed, and Kelly signed into law, a package of tax cuts earlier this year that included a modest reduction in income tax rates with expanded tax deductions and exemptions. They included only a single substantial property tax provision, which exempted the first $75,000 value of a home from the statewide mill levy. Previously, the first $40,000 was exempt.

“You know, we don’t know the full impact of the tax cuts that we implemented last year. We know it will be about a billion dollars,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to see how that all washes out, and we won’t know what the real bottom line is until sometime in 2026. We’ll have a much better idea going into that budget when we can figure out if we can afford to do anything.”

Kelly, who is entering her final two years as governor, has appeared wary in recent months of new tax cuts next year. Her comments on Monday demonstrated that election results hadn’t changed her stance.

Democrats, with help from a political action committee formed by Kelly, had hoped to break the GOP supermajority in the Legislature. Instead, Republicans gained seats, including in Johnson County, which has become a Democratic stronghold in the Republican-leaning state.

Republicans may have an easier time overriding a Kelly veto than in the past. In addition to the larger majority, two state senators who also voted to uphold the governor’s vetoes – Sens. Rob Olson and Dennis Pyle – won’t be returning to the Senate, removing potential obstacles for GOP leaders.

“During this election season, the number one thing we heard about at the doors was property tax relief,” Payton Lacey, a spokesperson for House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said in a statement earlier this month.

“Although the lion’s share of property taxes are collected at the local level, it’s a top priority for us to do what we can to deliver relief at the state level,” Lacey said. “It’s past due that Kansans felt much-needed relief from ever-increasing property tax costs, so we will do everything in our power to pass this legislation.”

In Kansas, property taxes are determined by three core variables. The first is the appraised value of a property, based on its fair market value.

The second is the assessed value of the property, or the percentage of the appraised value that is taxed. In Kansas, the assessment ratio for different categories of property is set in the state constitution. Residential property is assessed at 11.5% of appraised value.

The third is the mill levy. Counties, cities, and school districts each set their mill levy, with one mill constituting $1 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.

Kansas also has a statewide levy of 20 mills that helps fund public education, which generates upwards of $800 million annually.

Rep. Adam Smith, a Weskan Republican who chairs the House Tax Committee, has said he favors reducing the statewide mill levy and then making it revenue-neutral in future years. He said general fund dollars would backfill any lost revenues for education, a promise education advocates view skeptically.

Some lawmakers want to advance an amendment to the state constitution that would limit annual valuation increases. The Senate has previously passed an amendment, but critics say it would distort home values within neighborhoods over time because the valuations would typically reset to market value whenever a property is sold.

“Next session, there will be legislation to provide property tax relief and to reign in the out-of-control property tax increases,” Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican who chairs the Senate Tax Committee, said in a statement earlier this month.

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The Star’s Matthew Kelly contributed reporting

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