Kansas residents are on their approach to not having a gross sales tax on groceries.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, formally signed Home Invoice 2016 on Wednesday, thanking lawmakers for his or her bipartisan help — though they selected an strategy to section out the tax by 2025 as a substitute of the governor’s plan to finish the tax instantly. Kelly says the tip result’s a win for Kansas households.
HB 2016 is ready to take impact on New 12 months’s Day, lowering the tax to 4 p.c. The speed will then be lower to 2 p.c on Jan. 1, 2024 after which be eradicated on New 12 months’s Day 2025. With costs rising as a consequence of elevated inflation, Governor Kelly remains to be asking lawmakers to start out lowering the tax this upcoming July as a substitute of subsequent yr.
Kelly’s foremost challenger this election cycle, Kansas Lawyer Normal Derek Schmidt, a Republican, credited the Legislature for its work to remove the tax and faulted Kelly for vetoing bigger laws in 2019 that might have decreased the tax to zero by ths upcoming January. He additionally says Kelly voted for the biggest gross sales tax enhance in state historical past when she was a state senator in 2010.