Kansas has 11th highest tax burden in nation

Kansas has the 11th highest tax burden in the nation, according to a recent WalletHub report, 

“While useful at first glance, WalletHub’s tax burden analysis is several slices short of a full pie,” Michael Austin, director of the Sandlian Center for Entrepreneurial Government at Kansas Policy Institute, told The Center Square. “It takes income, property, sales and excise taxes as a share of income to calculate this ranking, but it ignores death taxes, production taxes, license taxes and other payments we make to government.”

According to the WalletHub report, Kansans pay on average 3.12% in property taxes, 2.28% in individual income taxes and 3.96% in sales and excise taxes.

“Tax burden analysis is a call to understand who truly pays a tax, not who is legally required to send it to the government,” Austin said. “Having that goal in mind means Kansans pay a lot more in taxes than what WalletHub records.”

Annette Nellen, professor and director of MST Program at San José State University, told WalletHub that of all taxes, income tax is perhaps the fairest because it is directly linked to an individual’s ability to pay, whereas other taxes are a standard rate regardless of the individual’s income or ability to pay. 

Austin said there is a big disconnect between what WalletHub says is Kansans’ tax burden, and what Kansans notice in their day-to-day expenses.

“Many Kansans report they are taxed out of their homes, others say they pay more in sales tax than if they shopped in New York City,” Austin said. “Additionally nearly every economic metric says Kansas is falling behind its peers.”

This article was originally posted on Kansas has 11th highest tax burden in nation

Sydney Boles

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