Title

Tom Sawyer led the effort in 1996 that gave us the Homestead exemption, which cut every homeowners property taxes.  He also helped pass a plan that reduced the state-wide property tax mill levy from 35 mills to 20 mills!

Saved the Homestead Exemption 

In 2006, Tom Sawyer helped defeat an effort to kill the Homestead Exemption.  Killing the Homestead Exemption would have raised our property taxes.  Tom Sawyer led the effort in 1996 which gave us the Homestead Exemption.  He wasn't about to let it die.

Doubled the Homestead Exemption this year

This year Tom Sawyer supported HB 2239 which doubles the Homestead Exemption from $20,000 to $40,000- providing each homeowner with a $92 property tax cut.  It also indexes the homestead exemption so that it automatically goes up each year to keep up with inflation. 

In 1998, Tom Sawyer also led the effort to double the sales tax refund and greatly increase the Homestead Tax Refunds provided to people over 55, the disabled, the blind and families struggling to make ends meet. 

In 2007, He helped pass another bill that increased the Homestead Refunds again!  Unfortunately in 2012 the Kansas Legislature took back some of these gains to help pay for their reckless 2012 tax plan.

This year Tom Sawyer supported HB 2239 which includes the Golden Age property tax rebate.  Homeowners 65 or older and Disabled Veterans who make less than $50,000 can get a rebate equal in amount to any increase in their property taxes over the base year (2021).  

  For example, if the homeowner's property taxes were $900 in 2021 and they were $990 this year, they would get a $90 rebate. If their property taxes go up to $1090 next year, then they would get a $190 rebate in 2023.  

In 2007, Tom Sawyer helped pass a bill that eliminates Kansas income tax on Social Security Benefits for all Kansans with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less! 

Now he is working to increase the cap to $100,000 and then index it to the CPI so that it keeps up with inflation. 

In 2016 Tom Sawyer was part of a bi-partisan group of legislators that developed a Property Tax Lid bill to keep our property taxes from going higher.  Their bill passed with huge bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate.  He believes that local governments should not be allowed to increase property taxes beyond reasonable and natural growth without being subject to a vote of the people.  That is what the newly passed property tax lid does.

Unfortunately The legislature from 2013 until 2017 continued to pass bills that shifted more of the tax burden onto to local property taxes.  They did this because the reckless 2012 tax plan left the state short of revenue.  Tom Sawyer believes that this is wrong and will make it difficult for senior citizens to stay in their homes and for working families to be able to afford their homes.  In 2017 he led the fight to end this reckless tax reckless tax plan to return financial stability to our state and end this horrible shift onto local property taxes. 

Tom Sawyer on the house floor leading the debate against the huge 2015 tax increase.  Unfortunately he lost that battle as the pro Brownback tax experiment forces were able to get the bare minimum number of votes needed to give Kansas the second highest tax on food in the nation. Tom Sawyer is dedicated to reducing and eventually eliminating the Kansas sales tax on food. Kansas is one of just 14 states that still tax food at all.  That huge Sales Tax Increase was enacted to protect the 2012 tax experiment.  Kansas Families had to pay more in sales tax on food and necessities just so 330,000 business owners could continue to pay no Kansas income tax. 

In 2017 Tom Sawyer led the fight that closed the 2012 tax loophole that had allowed 330,000 business owners (many who are very wealthy) to pay no Kansas Income Tax.  That tax experiment had caused a huge shift in our tax burden causing working families and seniors to pay more in taxes including the 2nd highest food tax in the country, while some of the wealthiest Kansans paid no state income tax.

That 2012 irresponsible tax plan not only caused a huge tax shift but it also devastated our schools, ended the T-Works road construction plan, and crippled our state budget. Now Tom Sawyer is working to restore our state. Working not only to fix the state budget but also to restore a fair balance in our tax burden.