Senate passes bill to phase out 6.5 percent food tax

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – The Kansas Senate has tabled Gov. Kelly’s desk a bill that would phase out the state’s 6.5% sales tax on groceries, rather than eliminating it outright.

On Wednesday, April 27th Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the Senate unanimously passed legislation to phase out the state sales tax on groceries.

“Today the Kansas Senate took a huge step forward for working Kansans by voting unanimously to phase out the state sales tax on groceries,” Schmidt said. “In this time of raging inflation, this tax break will bring much-needed relief to so many Kansanians across our state. As I’ve said repeatedly since my call for food tax breaks last fall, this has been the year that lawmakers have cut or eliminated food taxes, and I commend everyone who worked diligently to achieve that compromise. If this becomes law, Kansas will no longer be among the highest taxes on food in the country, but among the lowest. After repeated false starts over the past few years, now is the time to finally get this done, and I urge the House of Representatives to pass this as well before adjourning this week.”

House bill 2106 was set for a report by the conference committee on Tuesday, after the bill sat in the conference committee for about a month as lawmakers deliberated.

HB 2106 would extend the deadlines for filing corporate returns, exempt compensation income for identity fraud, provide a subtraction change for pension plan amounts, and provide a temporary option for remote workers.

The bill was introduced on January 21, at the request of Kent Eckles of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, to the Tax Committee, which supports the bill. It was passed unanimously by the House as part of an emergency decision.

Once sent to the Senate, an amendment was added to phase out the state’s sales tax on groceries. The bill finally passed the Senate on March 31 by a vote of 24 to 15.

With the passage of the conference committee report on Tuesday, the bill now goes back to the House.

Earlier in the week, the house declined House bill 2487aka the ax the food tax bill, which would have eliminated the 6.5% state tax on food sales all at once as opposed to gradually.

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