The Kansas House Wednesday rejected a proposal by Democrats aimed at reducing the property taxes paid by Kansans.
The plan would have distributed $45 million in state tax dollars over the next two years to local governments. That money would be used by local governments to reduce property taxes. The top Democrat in the chamber, Paul Davis from Lawrence, said lawmakers usually spend their time debating other types of tax cuts.
"Enough with the credits and the exemptions," Davis said. "Let's cut the tax that people hate the most. Let's give everybody some property tax relief."
The chamber voted to reject the measure 73-48. Representative Steve Brunk, a Republican from Wichita, said the plan just redistributes state tax dollars.
"All we're doing with this is taxing the citizens of Kansas, we're bringing it into a centralized location in Topeka, redistributing that money out to counties based on a formula. There is no tax relief here," Brunk said.
The amendment came during debate on a bill that would require a public vote for some types of local property tax increases. The chamber voted to advance the underlying bill.