New laws address taxation, homelessness in Kansas, Missouri at start of 2023

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. — A number of new legal guidelines took impact on Jan. 1, 2023 in each Kansas and Missouri addressing points from taxation to homelessness.

In Kansas, the meals tax went down from 6.5% to 4%. Kansas had the second highest state gross sales tax on groceries in 2022. The new regulation applies to most groceries, however not ready meals like take and bake objects.

The present plan requires the state gross sales tax on groceries to drop to 2% in 2024 and formally finish Jan. 1, 2025. Governor Laura Kelly requested legislators to hurry up that course of.

Cities and counties in Kansas can proceed to tax meals gross sales.

In Missouri, minimal wage is now $12 an hour, up from $11.15 an hour in 2022. The highest revenue tax price for people goes down in 2023. The state eradicated the underside revenue tax bracket, that means the primary $1,000 of revenue is now tax free.

It’s now unlawful for folks to make use of state-owned lands for “unauthorized sleeping, tenting, or the development of long-term shelters.” A brand new regulation makes it a misdemeanor for folks to sleep at parks, on benches or beneath bridges owned by the state.

Home Invoice 1606 additionally modifications the best way municipalities use state funds to deal with problems with houselessness; placing extra consideration on therapy and short-term shelter as a substitute of reasonably priced housing.

Some teams challenged the brand new regulation in courtroom, but it surely took impact this week whereas awaiting a ruling from the courts.